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Contributions of Attachment Theory and Research: a Framework for Future Research, Translation, and Policy

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Contributions of Attachment Theory and Research: a Framework for Future Research, Translation, and Policy Development and Psychopathology 25 (2013), 1415–1434 # Cambridge University Press 2013 doi:10.1017/S0954579413000692 Contributions of attachment theory and research: A framework for future research, translation, and policy a a b JUDE CASSIDY, JASON D. JONES, AND PHILLIP R. SHAVER aUniversity of Maryland; and bUniversity of California, Davis Abstract Attachment theory has been generating creative and impactful research for almost half a century. In this article we focus on the documented antecedents and consequences of individual differences in infant attachment patterns, suggesting topics for further theoretical clarification, research, clinical interventions, and policy applications. We pay particular attention to the concept of cognitive “working models” and to neural and physiological mechanisms through which early attachment experiences contribute to later functioning. We consider adult caregiving behavior that predicts infant attachment patterns, and the still- mysterious “transmission gap” between parental Adult Attachment Interview classifications and infant Strange Situation classifications. We also review connections between attachment and (a) child psychopathology; (b) neurobiology; (c) health and immune function; (d) empathy, compassion, and altruism; (e) school readiness; and (f) culture. We conclude with clinical–translational and public policy applications of attachment research that could reduce the occurrence and maintenance of insecure attachment during infancy and beyond. Our goal is to inspire researchers to continue advancing the field by finding new ways to tackle long-standing questions and by generating and testing novel hypotheses. One gets a glimpse of the germ of attachment theory in John tachment security (and insecurity) and ushered in decades of Bowlby’s 1944 article, “Forty-Four Juvenile Thieves: Their research examining the precursors and outcomes of individ- Character and Home-Life,” published in the International ual differences in infant attachment. (A PsycInfo literature Journal of Psychoanalysis. Using a combination of case stud- search using the keyword “attachment” yields more than ies and statistical methods (novel at the time for psychoana- 15,000 titles.) lysts) to examine the precursors of delinquency, Bowlby ar- By the beginning of the 21st century, the National Research rived at his initial empirical insight: The precursors of Council and the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Integrat- emotional disorders and delinquency could be found in early ing the Science of Early Childhood Development based its pol- attachment-related experiences, specifically separations from, icy and practice conclusions and recommendations on four or inconsistent or harsh treatment by, mothers (and often fa- themes, one of which was that “early environments matter thers or other men who were involved with the mothers). Over and nurturing relationships are essential” (Shonkoff & Phillips, the subsequent decades, as readers of this journal know, he 2000, p. 4). “Children grow and thrive in the context of close built a complex and highly generative theory of attachment. and dependable relationships that provide love and nurturance, Unlike other psychoanalytic writers of his generation, security, responsive interaction, and encouragement for ex- Bowlby formed a working relationship with a very talented ploration. Without at least one such relationship, development empirically oriented researcher, Mary Ainsworth. Her careful is disrupted, and the consequences can be severe and long-last- observations, first in Uganda (Ainsworth, 1967) and later in ing” (p. 7). These clear and strong statements could be made, in Baltimore, led to a detailed specification of aspects of mater- large part, because of the research inspired by Bowlby’s theory nal behavior that preceded individual differences in infant at- and Ainsworth’s creative research methods. tachment. Her creation of the Strange Situation (Ainsworth, Years after Ainsworth’s Strange Situation was proposed, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978) provided a gold standard for Mary Main and colleagues (e.g., George, Kaplan, & Main, identifying and classifying individual differences in infant at- 1984; Main, Kaplan, & Cassidy, 1985)providedawaytostudy the intergenerational transmission of attachment patterns. They The writing of this article was supported by NIDA Award R21 DA025550 (to and other researchers found that a parent’s “state of mind with J.C.), NIDA Award F31 DA033848 (to J.D.J.), and the Fetzer Institute (to respect to attachment” predicted his or her infant’s pattern of P.R.S.). The authors are grateful to Susan S. Woodhouse for engaging in ex- attachment. Moreover, since the 1980s there has been an explo- tensive conversations about maternal response to distress and to Kenneth sion of research examining attachment processes beyond the N. Levy for helpful suggestions about links between attachment and psycho- parent–child dyad (e.g., in adult romantic relationships) that pathology. Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Jude Cassidy, Depart- has supported Bowlby’s (1979) belief that attachment is a pro- ment of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742; cess that characterizes humans “from the cradle to the grave” E-mail: [email protected]. (p. 129). In the present article, space limitations lead us to focus 1415 1416 J. Cassidy, J. D. Jones, and P. R. Shaver principally on attachment processes early in life and consider lational application of attachment research to reducing the risk the adult attachment literature largely in relation to parental pre- of developing or maintaining insecure attachments and the pol- dictors of infant attachment. icy implications of attachment research. A Simple Model of Infant–Mother Attachment IWMs During the 70 years since Bowlby’s initial consideration of the One of the key concepts in attachment theory is the attach- developmental precursors of adolescent delinquency and psy- ment behavioral system, which refers to an organized system chopathology, researchers have provided a complex picture of behaviors that has a predictable outcome (i.e., proximity) of the parental and experiential precursors of infant attachment, and serves an identifiable biological function (i.e., protec- the links between early attachment-related experiences and la- tion). According to Bowlby (1969/1982), such a system is or- ter child functioning, the mechanisms involved in explaining ganized by experience-based IWMs of self and environment, these links, and moderators of these linking mechanisms. including especially the caregiving environment. Much has been learned at each of several analytic levels, in- cluding behavior, cognition, emotion, physiology, and genet- It is by postulating the existence of these cognitive components and ics. Figure 1 summarizes this literature in a simple model. their utilization by the attachment system that the theory is enabled to provide explanations of how a child’s experiences with attachment We have selected several of the components in Figure 1 for fur- figures come to influence in particular ways the pattern of attachment ther discussion. For each component, following a brief back- he develops. (pp. 373–374) ground and review of the current state of knowledge, we offer suggestions for future research, based largely on identification Much of the research on these models is based on the notion of gaps in theory or methodological innovations that make new that, beginning in the first year of life, mentally healthy indi- lines of discovery possible. We begin by considering one of the viduals develop a “secure base script” that provides a causal– central concepts of attachment theory, the internal working temporal prototype of the ways in which attachment-related model (IWM), followed by a consideration of physiological events typically unfold (e.g., “When I am hurt, I go to my mechanisms that also help to explain the influence of early at- mother and receive comfort”). According to Bretherton tachments. Next, we consider the caregiving behavior that pre- (1991; Bretherton & Munholland, 2008), secure base scripts dicts infant attachment and the perplexing issue of the trans- are the “building blocks” of IWMs. Theoretically, secure mission gap between parental Adult Attachment Interview children’s and adults’ scripts should allow them to create at- (AAI) classifications and infant Strange Situation classifica- tachment-related “stories” in which one person successfully tions. We then examine connections between attachment and uses another as a secure base from which to explore and as (a) child psychopathology; (b) neurobiology; (c) health and im- a safe haven in times of need or distress. Insecure individuals mune function; (d) empathy, compassion, and altruism; (e) should exhibit gaps in, or distortion or even absence of, such a school readiness; and (f) culture. Finally, we discuss the trans- script. H. S. Waters and colleagues (Waters & Rodrigues- Figure 1. A simple model of attachment-related processes. A complete depiction of attachment processes would require several pages. For in- stance, we note the parent’s attachment representations as a contributor to parental attachment-related behavior. There are many other important contributors to parental behavior, including culture, socioeconomic status, parental age, parental personality, child temperament, and the presence or absence of a partner, to name a few. Each of the constructs and arrows could be surrounded by numerous others.
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