Attachment Theory and Child Psychology

Attachment theory is central to child development, and has been shown to be “biologically-based,” (Gross, Stern, Brett, et al, 2015, p. 2). Children can develop secure, insecure, or disorganized styles of attachment, based largely on parental responses to their emotional needs in times of stress or a perceived threat. Attachment theory shows that attachment is relational, in that attachment style is based on individual responses to stress but also on parental responses to the child’s need for comfort when feeling threatened. Since attachment theory was first proposed in the late 1960s, it has evolved to include a wide range of research on different causes, effects, and interventions. Recent research on attachment theory has focused on how different attachment styles impact prosocial behaviors such as helping, sharing, or caring. In “The Multifaceted Nature of Prosocial Behavior in Children,” Gross, Stern, Brett, et al (2015) show how secure attachment styles are linked to prosocial behavior, but that there are important moderating factors including gender, context, and general temperament. In “Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Children and Adolescents,” Bosmans (2016) shows how attachment theory can be integrated with cognitive-behavioral therapy to provide a more robust and evidence-based treatment intervention for various presenting psychosocial problems.
Article 1: Gross, J.T., Stern, J.A., Brett, B.E., et al (2015). The multifaceted nature of prosocial behavior in children. Social Development 2017: 1-18.
Gross, Stern, Brett, et al (2015) apply attachment theory to the development of prosocial behavior. Prosocial behavior is basically similar to altruistic behavior, which benefits all social relationships. Therefore, understanding how to stimulate prosocial behavior can be an important area of research. Prosocial behaviors include voluntary acts of kindness such as actively helping, or exhibiting empathy. While it seems intuitive that parenting styles and parent-child relationships would have a strong bearing on the emergence of prosocial behaviors, it is important to substantiate intuitive claims with grounded theory and empirical evidence. In the Gross-Stern, Brett, et al (2015) study, the researchers focus on theory development. This is not an experimental or even an empirical study. First, the authors outline the literature on attachment theory in general, and then show how attachment theory shows how children develop cognitive schemas about social situations. In this sense, attachment theory may be closely connected with social learning.
According to Gross, Stern, Brett, et al (2015), research has shown that when children learn that their distress is met with conscientious caregiving, they generally respond better to stressful social situations, and behave in prosocial ways even when experiencing fear or rejection. In other words, secure attachment styles lead to prosocial cognition, affect, and behaviors. The converse is also true, whereby insecure attachment is linked with insecurity in social situations. Children who learn that caregivers do not provide support during times of stress will “expect peers to dislike or reject them,” or make “hostile attributions about peers’ behavior,” (Gross, Stern, Brett, et al, 2015, p. 2). Research also shows that secure attachment style is correlated with better emotion regulation versus insecure attachment style. Emotion regulation enhances prosocial behavior, as the individual is focused on the needs of others rather than internalized insecurity. Securely attached children also exhibit improved abilities to voluntarily control their emotions and behaviors when under stress. Research also shows that when insecure attached children behave in prosocial ways, they do so for different—and less altruistic—motives versus securely attached children. Insecure attachment causes prosocial behavior motivated more by an eagerness to please or a desire to avoid confrontation (Gross, Stern, Brett, et al, 2015).
Basically presented as an analytical review of literature with potential for theory enhancement, the Gross, Stern, Brett, et al (2015) article does offer indirect empirical support for the claims. For example, the third section of the article is a systematic review of literature on various sub-themes, arranged according to stages of development. During early childhood, between infancy and preschool, the research is inconclusive regarding the link between attachment style and prosocial behavior. Early and middle childhood provide slightly more reliable, but still “varied” results (Gross, Stern, Brett, et al, 2015, p. 5). Even the research on adolescent prosocial behavior does not offer conclusive evidence that attachment style is necessarily inked with prosocial behavior. However, the connection between attachment and prosocial behavior is stronger in the adolescent age cohort even when ethnicity is controlled for. Thus, contrary to expectations, the authors found that attachment style is weakly but still positively correlated with exhibiting prosocial behaviors.
The authors then break down the review of literature according to types of prosocial behavior, rather than simply by developmental stage. Comforting, sharing, and helping are the three types of prosocial behavior being examined in the research. Of these three types of prosocial behaviors, most of the research points to increased comforting behaviors but not necessarily to helping or sharing. Gross, Stern, Brett, et al (2015) hypothesize that there is simply not enough research on the effect of attachment style on helping and sharing, not that the effect is actually too weak to be significant. This review of literature calls for more robust research methods and provides researchers with suggestions for further empirical investigations. The authors offer suggestions for operationalization and variable selection, for explaining different causal relationships.
Article 2: Bosmans, G. (2016). Cognitive behavior therapy for children and adolescents. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review 19(4): 310-328.
“Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Children and Adolescents” is a qualitative review of the literature on cognitive-behavioral therapy for children with behavioral and affective disorders. For the review, the author focuses on studies that include attachment styles as variables. Cognitive-behavioral therapy has generally proven effective in treatment, but Bosmans (2016) shows there are some gaps in the literature. Thus, Bosmans (2016) suggests that the literature “might benefit from a new conceptualization and expansion of treatment goals,” using attachment theory as a framework (p. 310). Parent-child attachments impact child cognitive and affective development, and would therefore naturally impact child psychological and social functioning in other areas. The Bosmans (2016) research therefore has strong relevance for developing more effective and evidence-based child psychology interventions.
The author first offers a review of literature on cognitive-behavioral therapy for children and adolescents, as well as parent-focused therapy. Efficacy of both cognitive-behavioral therapy and parent-focused therapy would be enhanced via understanding attachment styles, especially given attachment theory has cognitive-behavioral components impacting both child and parent. According to Bosmans (2016), cognitive behavioral therapy has generally rejected attachment theory, based in part on a lack of empirical evidence supporting its efficacy and perhaps also because of the perception that attachment theory is linked too closely with psychodynamics. Attachment theory has been presented in a “vague” way with poor operationalization Bosmans, 2016, p. 3). Alternatively, attachment theory research has implied a potential immutability of attachment styles, which would not lend itself well to change via the application of cognitive-behavioral therapy.
In this study, Bosmans (2016) presents an overview of literature that shows why attachment theory does offer new directions for making cognitive-behavioral therapies more effective, getting to the root causes of some maladaptive behaviors in children. This research parallels innovative therapies that are based on attachment theory. For example, Versaci (2016) shows how attachment theory is the basis for some forms of drama therapeutic interventions. New developments in attachment theory focus on secure base script concepts, which fits right in with the cognitive-behavioral framework. Also, research has addressed possible moderators and mechanisms explaining the link between attachment style and behavioral problems. The evidence clearly shows that insecure attachment is linked to poor emotional regulation and poor self-regulation in general.
Moreover, research demonstrates a difference in psychosocial behaviors depending on whether the insecurely attached child is resistant/anxious or avoidant. Not all insecurely attached children go on to exhibit problematic behaviors, though, which is why the therapist needs to ascertain whether attachment issues are at stake in the child’s maladaptive behaviors or cognitive schemas. Bosmans (2016) also explores research on the relative stability of the attachment relationship, and its bearing on child behavior, as well as on the gamut of evidence-based attachment-focused intervention strategies like attachment-based family therapy. In fact, attachment theory highlights how adult interactions affect psychological development well into adulthood, leading to maladaptive social and psychological functioning such as problems with intimacy in interpersonal relationships (Shaver, 2017).
As cognitive-behavioral therapy is focused on behavioral change via reframing cognitive schemas, though, it makes sense to explore the role of attachment style in child psychology. For example, research does show that especially for insecurely attached children, restoring trust in the parental figure or caregiver does have positive outcomes in therapy. Bosmans (2016) and Gross, Stern, Brett, et al (2015) both offer suggestions for new directions in research on the efficacy of attachment theory. The implications of the research extend into the field of child care, showing why it is important to have continual adult supervision to promote secure attachment (Juffer, Bakermans-Kranenberg & Ijendoorn, 2017). Attachment theory does explain at least some prosocial and/or maladaptive child behaviors, but future research is needed.





References

Bosmans, G. (2016). Cognitive behavior therapy for children and adolescents. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review 19(4): 310-328.
Gross, J.T., Stern, J.A., Brett, B.E., et al (2015). The multifaceted nature of prosocial behavior in children. Social Development 2017: 1-18.
Juffer, F., Bakermans-Kranenberg, M.J. & Ijzendorn, M.H. (2017). Pairing attachment theory and social learning theory in video-feedback intervention to promote positive parenting. Current Opinion in Psychology 15(2017): 189-194.
Shaver, P. (2017). Attachment to attachment theory. Voices. http://www.aapweb.com/aad/pub/voices-191-summer-2017-relationship-in-psychotherapy.pdf#page=42
Versaci, R. (2016). Attachment performs: Framing attachment theory within the dramatic worldview. Drama Therapy Review 2(2): 223-237.