Parent-Child Attachment it Is Now Widely Recognized

Parent-Child Attachment

It is now widely recognized by psychologists that the first few years of a child's experiences are crucial in her subsequent personality and behavioral development. The most critical aspect in this regard is the child's relationship with her parents in the formative years. The recognition of this simple fact has led to the development of the "attachment theory" that emphasizes the importance of a close parent-child relationship in promoting a balanced, caring and trustful individual -- so essential for the evolution of a healthy society. This essay gives a brief overview of the "parent-child attachment theory" and outlines its importance.

Various people have carried out research on parent-child attachment during the last sixty years. Prominent names among them are John Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth and William Sears. (Nix 2005) Bowlby, regarded as the father of the attachment theory, believed that all infants would become "attached" to their care-givers regardless of the type of care they receive -- whether the care received was abusive, responsive, or inconsistent. However, the quality of the attachment determines to a large extent the child's future behavior and the way she relates to others in her future life. Those children, who receive "responsive," "consistent" and "compassionate" care in the first few years of their lives, perceive the world as a safe and secure place; they are trustful of others and because of this trust, they are not afraid to venture out on their own to explore the world around them. As a result, children who have had "quality" attachment to their parents, develop self-confidence, have a rich variety of experiences in their lives, and develop successful relationships with others. On the other hand, those who have insensitive, inconsistent, and abusive attachments with their parents are likely to develop a deep-rooted mistrust of the world or an "attachment disorder" leading to pathological and anti-social behavior. (Breazeale, 2001)

Building on the work of Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth devised a procedure, called The Strange Situation, to observe attachment relationships between a mother and child. Her observations led her to categorize children on the basis of their type of attachment such as "secure," "anxious-ambivalent," "anxious-avoidant" or "disorganized." According to her theory of attachment, those children who received secure attachment were best able to adapt themselves and to cope with problems in later life, as they had a "secure" base to return to. ("Attachment Theory," 2005)