Attachment Theory

Infant Attachment

Early attachment research focused on one's earliest interpersonal experiences. During infancy, humans begin to develop what may eventually become [Page 53]lifelong patterns of interdependence with one another. This interdependence (typically described as an intertwining of lives, leading to mutual influence and reliance) is often seen as an interpersonal response that has evolved through natural selection processes. Indeed, the earliest attachments are enacted through proximity-seeking behaviors; the cries or grasping of infants are an adaptive response to an otherwise uncertain world, ensuring protection from a caregiver and the resulting survival that such security affords. Over time, the responsive caregiver becomes the object of the infant's primary attachment bond as the child relies on that person as a source of comfort or security. As a result of this attachment, infants will typically turn to the primary caregiver in times of distress or uncertainty. The amount of reliance on a caregiver is moderated by the individual experiences of the infant; a child who has experienced sensitive, warm, responsive, and/or consistent caregivers tends to have stronger attachment bonds with those caregivers. A child experiencing a distant, cold, unavailable, or inconsistent caregiver is believed to have weaker or unhealthier attachment bonds with that caregiver.

Adolescent and Adult Attachment

While early attachment figures are typically caregivers providing for the physical and/or safety needs of an infant or young child, attachment bonds are also formed throughout adolescence and adulthood. Just as infants turn to caregivers in times of distress or uncertainty, adolescents and adults tend to turn to a specific individual when they need affirmation related to security, closeness, or intimacy. This attachment bond is typically characterized by an enduring affiliation with an attachment figure through both good and bad episodes in the relationship; the bond is often so enduring that perceptions of grief and loss often occur if the affiliation is somehow severed. Obviously, adolescent and adult attachment bonds are not limited to caregivers, since those relationships likely occur with decreasing frequency throughout adolescence and early adulthood. Adult attachment bonds have been found to occur in close relationships such as close friendships, sibling relationships, parent-child relationships, and even the occasional patient-therapist relationship.

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