Attachment Security in Infancy and Early Adulthood: A Twenty‐Year Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Sixty white middle-class infants were seen in the Ainsworth Strange Situation at 12 months of age; 50 of these participants (21 males, 29 females) were recontacted 20 years later and interviewed using the Berkeley Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). The interviewers were blind to the participants' Strange Situation classifications. Overall, 72% (36/50) of the infants received the same secure versus insecure attachment classification in early adulthood (kappa = .44, p < .001). As predicted by attachment theory, negative life events, defined as (1) loss of a parent, (2) parental divorce, (3) life threatening illness of parent or child (e.g. diabetes, cancer, heart attack), (4) parental psychiatric disorder, and (5) physical or sexual abuse by a family member were an important factor in change. Fifty-six percent (10/18) of the infants whose mothers reported negative life events changed attachment classifications from infancy to early adulthood. Only 28% (9/32) participants who reported no such events changed classification (p < .05). These results support Bowlby's hypothesis that individual differences in attachment security can be stable across significant portions of the lifespan and yet remain open to revision in light of experience. The task now is to use a variety of research designs, measurement strategies, and study intervals to clarify the mechanisms underlying stability and change.One of Bowlby's primary goals in developing modern attachment theory was to preserve what he considered Freud's genuine insights about close relationships and development. These included insights about (1) the complexity of social, cognitive, and emotional life in infancy, (2) underlying similarities in the nature of close relationships in infancy and adulthood, and (3) the importance of early experience.In order to preserve these insights, Bowlby recast Freud's insights in terms of control systems and ethological theories. He also placed his own imprint on them, replacing cathectic bonding with evolved secure base patterns as the common thread in infant and adult relationships. He also placed greater emphasis on the openness of early relationships to change, especially in light of real-life experiences.

Dispositional mindfulness mediates the relationships of parental attachment to posttraumatic stress disorder and academic burnout in adolescents following the Yancheng tornado

“…Furthermore, consistent with previous research (Waters, Merrick, Treboux, Crowell, & Albersheim, 2000), the parental attachment was positively related to dispositional mindfulness among adolescents. The indirect effect model indicates that the direct effect of parental attachment on PTSD and academic burnout is still significant when mindfulness was inserted into the relation between parental attachment and PTSD and academic.…”

Patterns of stability in adult attachment: An empirical test of two models of continuity and change.

“…Advocates of the prototype hypothesis have cited studies that demonstrate stability over long spans of time as evidence for their claims (e.g., Waters, Merrick, et al, 2000). For example, Waters and his colleagues have shown that attachment assessed in infancy predicts attachment assessed at 18 years of age (Waters, Merrick, et al, 2000).…”

Cognitive factors maintaining persecutory delusions in psychosis: The contribution of depression.

“…Insecure avoidant infants explore readily, show little sign of distress when parted from the caregiver, and actively avoid contact upon the caregiver's return. Attachment styles tend to be relatively stable throughout an individual's life, and appear to transmit through generations (Waters, Merrick, Treboux, Crowell, & Albersheim, 2000;Benoit & Parker, 1994). Securely attached children are likely to become autonomous adults, while ambivalent children develop preoccupied or enmeshed adult attachment behaviours, and avoidant infants grow up to be dismissive of attachment.…”