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The coding system used to interpret the attachment style expressed by the child has also been modified. Rather than focusing entirely on the expression of specific behaviors and emotions, the revised coding system assesses ways in which a variety of behaviors, such as talking, are organized to maintain and negotiate proximity and contact.
A child with the anxious-avoidant insecure attachment pattern will avoid or ignore the caregiver, showing little emotion when the caregiver departs or returns. The child will not explore very much regardless of who is there. Infants classified as anxious-avoidant (A) represented a puzzle in the early 1980s.
Insecure children, particularly avoidant children, are especially vulnerable to family risk. Their social and behavioural problems increase or decline with deterioration or improvement in parenting. However, an early secure attachment appears to have a lasting protective function. [ 91 ]
Anxious-resistant insecure attachment is also called ambivalent attachment. [11] In general, a child with an anxious-resistant attachment style will typically explore little (in the Strange Situation) and is often wary of strangers, even when the caregiver is present. When the caregiver departs, the child is often highly distressed.
This corresponds to a balance between the attachment system which serves the function of protection and the exploration system which facilitates learning. [4] The function of other attachment styles can be explained in terms of an imbalance of intimacy and independence, a preoccupation with one of these goals.
A dismissive-avoidant attachment style is demonstrated by those possessing a positive view of self and a negative view of others. [22] Adults with a dismissive style of avoidant attachment tend to agree with these statements: [23] I am comfortable without close emotional relationships. It is important to me to feel independent and self-sufficient.
These are known as secure, anxious-ambivalent, anxious-avoidant, (all organized) [13] and disorganized. [14] [15] The latter three are characterised as insecure. These are assessed using the Strange Situation Procedure, designed to assess the quality of attachments rather than whether an attachment exists at all. [4]
Playing with children is more common when parents and children have a secure attachment. These parents react more quickly to their children's needs and are typically more responsive to a child they are securely attached to than one of insecure attachment. [7] Attachment carries on throughout the growth of the children.