NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
... observed the researchers defined each child as secure, secure-avoid ant, or secure-resistant. Twenty years later Waters et al would did a follow up study on these infants to examine the extent of stability and change in attachment patterns from infancy to early adulthood and to stimulate research into mechanisms underlying these developmental trajectories (Waters et el, 2000). Another interest of Waters et al was if negative life events affected the individuals, this idea was supported by Bowlbys theory. Bowlbys idea was that the attachment theory predicted both stability under normal events and change when negative life events occurred that altered the caregivers behavior. To test this hypothesis of negative life events changing attachment Waters et al looked at the AAI to note any negative events.
The negative events classified as either loss of parent, parental divorce, life threatening illnesses of parent or child, parental psychiatric disorder, and physical or sexual abuse by a family member. After determining the negative events Waters et al found that infants whose mothers reported stressful events changed attachment classifications then those mothers who reported no stressful events. This study provided evidence for the value of the secure base concept as a conceptualization of attachment relationships in infancy to adulthood (Waters et al, 2000). Along with this study Claire E. Hamilton studied attachment from infancy to adulthood as well. In Hamilton's study she reported relations among Ainsworth Strange Situation, negative life events, and Adult Attachment Interview.
Hamilton examined the stability and continuity of attachment security from infancy through adolescence. This study was conducted to help researchers better understand children beyond adolescence when raised in different family styles. This study was also conducted to evaluate how life stressed and changed aid in childrens development. Hamilton wanted to study how an attachment style continues through adolescence. Also it looks at how negative life events influences development like Walters et al (2000) did. The participants in this study were taken from the Family Lifestyle Project that consisted of 205 American families (FLS).
The FLS was a study that examined the influence of nonconventional family lifestyles on the childrens development (Hamilton, 2000). At infancy the infants were classified as either secure or insecure by using Ainsworth's Strange Situation. Later Hamilton interviewed the adolescents by using an adolescent version of the Adult Attachment Interview. In this study it was shown that negative life events were associated with the continuity of attachment (Hamilton 2000). Adolescents with constant insecure attachments were most likely to have experienced one or more negative life events.
The negative life events had an effect and operated primarily in terms of maintaining insecure attachments. The negative life events consisted of parental divorce and parental substance abuse. The negative events were associated with the continuity of attachment. Knowing how to connect to the child between early and later development points to the important role of attachment in development. This study showed how a relationship between the mother and the child is associated with attachment in adolescence. Hamilton (2000) found that change in attachment classification to an extent was related to the presence or absence of negative life events.
It was shown that the individuals who maintained an insecure relationship were more likely to continue with the same classification and to have experienced negative life events. In another perspective, continuity was also looked at as if attachments were related to memories of childhood, divorce, and maladjustment. Lewis, Feiring, and Rosenthal looked at this. Lewis et al indicated that the childs model of the attachment relationship was viewed as organized around the history of the caregivers responses to the infants actions (Lewis, 2000). As in the earlier studies mentioned Lewis et al discusses how negative life experiences affected the individual later in life. This study looked at how continuity in attachment classification from infancy to late adolescence is related to autobiographical memories of childhood, divorce, and maladjustment (Lewis, 2000).
Eighty-four White middle-class children participated and were seen in Ainsworth's Strange Situation at infancy then later given the Adult attachment Interview. In the interview the individuals were asked to describe early relationships with their parents and to provide memories of their childhood. This provided information on if there was continuity in attachment between the child and the parent. It was later determined if there was continuity in attachment after gathering information such as if there were negative life changes in their life between the parent and child. This study indicated that there is no continuity in attachment classification from 1 to 18 years of age and no relation between infant attachment status and adolescent maladjustment (Lewis, 2000). Also an important factor was that environment influences attachment.
If divorce occurred in a family it could change the attachment the child has with their parents. If a child is securely attached then the parents got a divorce the child can change to insecurely attached and effect attachment later in life. This study showed that family environment is an important factor for the attachment a child has with his or her parents. It showed that negative experiences could change the individual in later life. Weinfield, Sroufe, and Egeland also felt that family environment is a factor in the continuity of attachment. In their study they looked at if attachment would change in the child if they were born into low-income families, which is a negative life experience.
Weinfield et als (2000) study examined continuity and discontinuity in attachment from infancy to age 19 in a sample at high risk for poor developmental adaptation. Weinfield et als study looked at if being in a high-risk environment such as being born into a single mother home or a low-income family it might effect the attachment classification between the caregiver and the child in later life. Sixty white middle-class infants were seen in this experiment. Among these individuals selected in this study each one was examined in the Strange Situation and later interviewed in adulthood with the Adult Attachment Interview. This study emphasized the nature of risk in the lives of children who grew up in poverty and chaotic environments. Weinfield et al showed that there is a discontinuity in attachment depending on the family environment.
This study showed that attachments are at risk to change since they are venerable to difficult and chaotic life experiences. The last study that I reviewed looked at maltreated children in families and how this maltreated affects the children. Ricky Finzi, Orna Cohen, Yafa Sapir, and Abraham Weizman studied children who were treated badly by their mother or their father. It was shown that the emotional impact of bad treatment could affect the child in later life. Negative experiences such as neglected children, fathers who used drugs, physically abused children, and were studied then compared to a control group that was not abused or neglected in childhood. Seventy-six children were studied that had a drug-user as a father, forty-one who were physically abused, and thirty-eight children that were neglected.
The control group consisted of thirty-five children. More than half of the children were characterized as securely attached who had a drug-user as a father and a little less then half were characterized as insecurely attached. The physically abused children were labeled to be insecure-avoid ant, neglected children had an insecure-disorganized attachment. It was found that after comparing the experimental groups to the control group that the maltreated children were at risk later in life. It was shown that physically abused children were at risk of antisocial behavior. Neglected were at risk for lack of communications towards others and social rejection.
Children who had a drug-user for a father were shown to have risks to be a drug-user also in later life. These studies provided information that negative life experiences can affect attachment relationships and / or affect the individuals life. Negative experiences such as sexual and verbal abuse towards the child, being born into a low-income family, parents who abuse drugs and alcohol, divorce of parents, and death of parents can all effect attachment in children. This in turn effects development and later relationships with the parents in later life.
The continuity of attachment throughout life is important for later relationships, so its best if nothing negative occurs in the family, which is impossible. Negative experiences occur not to effect the attachment but it does. Although Mary Ainsworth developed the Strange Situation to determine what kind of attachment style a child has with his or her caregiver it is not always conclusive because things change. That is why the Berkley Adult attachment Interview was developed. Experiences happen in life whether its negative or positive, it can effect the attachment and change it.
Now thanks to these studies and many others the psychologists who are interested in attachment styles, we now have a better understanding as to how attachment styles can change. References Carlson, A. , Alizabeth (1998). A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Attachment Disorganization/Disorientaton. Journal of Child Development, 69, 1107 - 1128 Feldmen, S. , Robert (1999). Understanding Psychology. 122 Finzi, Ricky, Orna Cohen, Sapir, Yafa, & Weizman, Abraham (2000). Styles in Maltreated Children: A Comparative Study.
Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 31, 113 - 128 Hamilton, E. , Claire (2000). Continuity and Discontinuity of Attachment from Infancy through Adolescence, Journal of Child Development, 71, 690 - 694 Http//: web (1999) The Bond Between other and Child Lewis, Michael, Feiring, Candice, and Rosenthal, Saul (2000). Attachment over Time, Journal of Child Development, 71, 707 - 720 Schaffer, H. R, & Emerson P.
E (1964), The Development of Social Attachment in Infancy, Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 29, 3 Waters, Everett, Merrick, Susan, Treboux, Dominique, Crowell, Judith, & Albersheim, Leah (2000). Attachment Security in Infancy and early adulthood: A twenty- year Longitudinal Study, Journal of Child Development, 71, 684 - 689 Weinfield, S. , Nancy, Sroufe, Alan, L. , Egeland, Byron (2000). Attachment from Infancy to Early Adulthood in a High-Risk Sample: Continuity, Discontinuity, and Their Correlates. Journal of Child Development, 71, 695 - 702 Zandon, Vander, W. , James (2000). Human Development. Infancy Emotional and Social Development. 174
Free research essays on topics related to: white middle class, parental divorce, life events, avoid ant, physically abused
Research essay sample on Effects Of Negative Life Experiences On Individuals
