ExpectationsInitial Post: Due: Thursday. See attached file to see my selected theory in week 2 Length: A minimum of 250 words, not including references Citations: At least one high-level scholarly r

Attachment is a deep and lasting emotional connection that links time and space between one person and another. John Bowlby developed the Theory of Attachment through his work in child psychology. His theory proposes that attachment is achieved when the parents or caregiver provides safety and security for the infant. Bowlby thought that attachment was pre-programmed since infants could not survive without others.

A theory must consist of two concepts and a proposition. Within the Theory of Attachment, the concepts are the caregiver providing safety and security, and the infant. The proposition is the achievement of attachment.

Throughout the 1930s, John Bowlby worked as a child psychiatrist in London, where he treated emotionally distraught children. His observations led him to believe that the child’s relationship with their mother greatly impacted their development. The Theory of Attachment grew from the belief that there is a link between infant’s relationship with their caregiver and potential developmental distress later in childhood (McLeod, 2017).

If the caregiver meets the child’s needs, healthy attachment occurs. Consequently, attachment in infancy influences the development of a child’s prosocial development. Prosocial behavior includes manners that are positive and helpful. In children, these behaviors may consist of confidence, sharing, or cooperating with others. These behaviors result from the child’s caregiver being responsive and sensitive to their needs in times of distress. The caregiver must recognize the child’s negative state, provide a compassionate response, and see through to the resolution of the problem (Beier et al., 2019). In contrast, children who could not depend on their caregiver to meet their needs face challenges such as avoiding emotional intimacy and the inability to handle stress (Beier et al., 2019). When the adult is inconsistent or completely unresponsive to the child, anxiety develops.

Identifying the child’s attachment to their caregiver guides future decisions. During early childhood, the negative effects can be seen through poor social, coping, and problem-solving skills, tantrums, clingy, withdrawn, or aggressive behaviors, etc. Not only do these behaviors impact relationships, they can impact a child’s capacity for learning as they age from the infancy stage, into early childhood, and beyond (Lewis et al., 2015).

References

Beier, J. S., Gross, J. T., Brett, B. E., Stern, J. A., Martin, D. R., & Cassidy, J. (2019). Helping, Sharing, and Comforting in Young Children: Links to Individual Differences in Attachment. Child Development, 90(2), e273–e289. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13100

McLeod, S. (2017, February 5). Attachment Theory. . Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/attachment.html

Lewis-Morrarty, E., Degnan, K. A., Chronis-Tuscano, A., & Spine, D. S. (2015, April). Infant Attachment Security and Early Childhood Behavioral Inhibition Interact to Predict Adolescent Social Anxiety Symptoms. . http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12336