Understanding Child and Adolescent Behavior Through Attachment Theory

This essay delves into Bowlby's evolutionary theory of attachment, highlighting its significance in understanding child and adolescent behavior. It examines how attachment behaviors, triggered by factors like separation and fear, are biologically programmed. The essay discusses the development of attachment, from early inclinations towards caregivers to the formation of internal working models. It explores the impact of secure and insecure attachments, emphasizing the role of social care practitioners in applying attachment theory for assessment and intervention. The essay also touches upon the application of attachment theory in psychotherapy, emphasizing the importance of secure attachment styles for mental well-being. Ultimately, the essay concludes that understanding attachment theory is crucial for addressing psychosocial concerns and promoting positive outcomes for children and adolescents. The paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the attachment theory and its impact on child and adolescent behavior, referencing studies by Bowlby, Holmes, and others.

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY
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Introduction
Bowlby’s evolutionary theory of attachment explicates that children inherit the
biologically pre-programme for establishing connections with other individuals to live
successfully. Bowlby understood that attachment behavioural patterns are intuitive and tends
to be stimulated by any conditions, which appear to intimidate the accomplishment of
proximity related to separation, lack of security, anxiety and fear. Holmes (2015) has noted
that attachment theory postulates that a child initially tends to establish one type of
attachment which acts as a protection base for all potential social associations. Thus
disruption in attachment relationship has the propensity to result to severe consequences. The
aim of the paper is to evaluate how attachment theory explains child and adolescent
behavioural patterns.
Discussion
Understanding the evolutionary foundation of attachment is profoundly useful while
considering behaviour of children, adolescents and their parents. Woodhouse, Ayers and
Field (2015) have explained that attachment behaviours indicates distress, fear along with the
need for care and comfort in several conditions which are programmed by human biology
that is fear of isolation, separation and being left alone. Such type of programming is so
essential that children and adolescents tend to have insignificant amount of control over the
fear or anguish they experience. The feelings of intimacy and affection in attachment
relationships are allied to neural and biochemical substrates. These feelings normalize
response of the child to parent closeness, comfort and protection, as well as the parent's
attachment to the child’s goals for protection (Schiffrin 2014). Relationships which lack
mutual pleasure and in which parent does not share child attachment goals and respond to
genuine attachment of child and adolescents needs, foster a chronic and intense negative
impact.

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The development course of attachment in childhood is highly crucial for social care
practitioners to explain importance of attachment theory in childhood behaviour. Studies of
Bowlby (2018) has found that infants develop distinctive and qualitatively diverse
attachments with each of their primary caregivers. These relationships emerge gradually over
the initial three years of life. Early inclinations for human relationships such as human face
and voice along with the affectionate appearance of mother are strongly attached.
Furthermore, implicit memory procedures facilitate recognition and recall memory for events
and people specifically when infants tend to assume that they can regulate interesting events.
Additionally, by five months an infant exhibits comprehensive range of emotion expressions
and associates with relationship-guided emotion regulation and communication (Page 2015).
Also, between six and nine months of age, the infant evidently distinguishes among different
attachment figures. It is regarded as a developmental shift which is guided by strong
demonstration of the need of intimacy and by separation and apprehension towards stranger.
The infant at this age thus explains “person permanence”. Attachment is explained by
attachment and is manifested by cognitive-affective representational models of associations.
These internal occupied models create a shift in attachment behavioural patterns and
processes and they permit the child to expect, assess and create plans with caregivers not only
to respond to their presence.
Vicedo (2017) has proposed that attachment theory can be altered during process of
psychotherapy. It has been noted that adult attachment study has proposed that there can be
observed steadiness in the style ranging from infancy through adolescence. It further ranges
into maturity in such a process that an individual obtain understanding to control nervousness
rising from deficiency of constructive attachment experience to main caretaker at the initial
stage in life. As per the view of Duschinsky, Greco and Solomon (2015), social care
practitioner can develop a protected base and attain a place of connection figures to aid

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clients attain sheltered attachment style that is considered as typical of mental wellbeing.
Therefore attachment theory with its contribution to positive psychotherapeutic interventions
also tends to offer intrinsically to maintenance of good health. Meanwhile, Steele et al.
(2016) have mentioned that attachment behavioural system is a key idea in attachment theory.
ABS is alarmed due to the intimacy of the key attachment character to the child or adolescent
area of importance. The system is stimulated whenever there can be identified a fear of
separation from the attachment figure. However, as per the opinion of Holmes (2015), if the
attachment model is not in the vicinity or fails to be approachable, the child tends to exhibit
apprehensive and fearful behavioural patterns. These behavioural patterns tend to remain till
the return of the attachment figure and further pay consideration to the child, adolescent and
adult. However, the response of the ABS is reliable with attachment styles as well as working
prototypes.
However, it can be suggested that social work practitioners can broadly apply
theoretical explanation of attachment intended for assessment and conduct of psychosocial
concerns of children and their parents. According to Woodhouse, Ayers and Field (2015),
social work practitioners are competent in increasing client social records and are qualified in
collecting data, which is comprehensive in the milieu of attachment theory. Through this kind
of knowledge, social work practitioners can plan actual tactics in order to aid clients in
establishing suitable approaches of rectifying unconstructive self as well as object working
models towards the purpose of accepting confident and sheltered attachment style. Treatment
must initiate with an understanding of attachment theory as well as working prototypes to aid
clients. Bowlby’s fundamental goals for treatment relying on assisting client comprehend
attachment experiences and distinguish as well as review working models and further change
them to be protected and highly active (Schiffrin 2014). It also helps client to acquire idea of

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the ways to have contented closeness through self-determination from ineffectual working
simulations.
Conclusion
Hence to conclude, Bowlby further suggested that treatment tasks serve as guidelines
designed for treatment of uncertain or apprehensive attachment styles and negative working
models. In the association amongst client and strongly involved social work practitioner, a
user can perform the therapeutic treatment of remembering excruciating dysfunctional as well
as maladaptive views, activities, recollections and sentiments that added to self-doubting
adaptive manner and associated incompetent functioning prototypes. However, deliberating
such linkages will aid the client to essentially imitate on the maladaptive reactions in these
relations as well as instigate to narrate them to proceedings and involvements taken place as a
child that recognized an attachment approach and functioning simulations.

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References
Bowlby, R., 2018. Fifty years of attachment theory: The Donald Winnicott memorial lecture.
Routledge.
Duschinsky, R., Greco, M. and Solomon, J., 2015. The politics of attachment: Lines of flight
with Bowlby, Deleuze and Guattari. Theory, culture & society, 32(7-8), pp.173-195.
Holmes, J., 2015. Attachment theory in clinical practice: A personal account. British Journal
of Psychotherapy, 31(2), pp.208-228.
Page, J., 2015. The legacy of John Bowlby’s attachment theory. Routledge international
handbook of philosophies and theories of early childhood education and care, pp.80-89.
Schiffrin, H.H., 2014. Positive psychology and attachment: Positive affect as a mediator of
developmental outcomes. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 23(6), pp.1062-1072.
Steele, H., Bate, J., Steele, M., Dube, S.R., Danskin, K., Knafo, H., Nikitiades, A., Bonuck,
K., Meissner, P. and Murphy, A., 2016. Adverse childhood experiences, poverty, and
parenting stress. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du
comportement, 48(1), p.32.
Vicedo, M., 2017. Putting attachment in its place: Disciplinary and cultural
contexts. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 14(6), pp.684-699.
Woodhouse, S., Ayers, S. and Field, A.P., 2015. The relationship between adult attachment
style and post-traumatic stress symptoms: A meta-analysis. Journal of anxiety disorders, 35,
pp.103-117.