Childhood Experiences Of Attachment And Separation example essay topic

A qualitative study showing how childhood experiences of attachment and separation can affect relationships in adulthood. Abstract This qualitative research was conducted to ascertain if the attachment style a person has as an adult is created or influenced by his / her interactions with early childhood experiences. The research was carried out by means of a thematic analysis of an interview of a married middle-aged couple. The interviews bought the themes of Work, Childhood and Relationships to the foreground and these were analysed to establish if there is a connection in our childhood attachments and those we make as adults. It can be seen that there are similarities to the attachment types of infants compared to those that emerge as adults although individual differences and life experiences also have a part to play in our capacity to form secure adult attachment relationships. Andrea K Lait V 0049493 Introduction The general principle behind attachment theory is to describe and explain people's stable patterns of relationships from birth to death.

Because attachment is thought to have an evolutionary basis, these social relationships are formed in order to encourage social and cognitive development, and enable the child to grow up to 'become socially confident' in adulthood. The assumption in attachment research on children is that sensitive responses by the parents to the child's needs result in a child who demonstrates secure attachment while lack of sensitive responding results in insecure attachment. John Bowlby who attempted to understand the distress infants experience during separation from their parents originally developed this research. Bowlby saw attachment as being crucial to a child's personality developing and to the development of relationships with others later in life. This theory has its foundation in vertical relationships i.e. Primary Care Giver / Child, while on the other hand in The Nurture Assumption, Judith Rich Harris (1999) suggests that it is the peer groups that have the strongest control in shaping how that child will grow up and that parents have very little influence over the matter, this is known as a horizontal relationship. In developing and classifying infant behaviour Mary Ainsworth who worked with Bowlby for a number of years developed a method of gauging attachment in infants, in an experiment known as the 'Strange Situation'.

This involved observations in laboratory conditions of the behaviour of mother and child in a room when a stranger enters the room; the mother leaves the room, then stranger leaves. The mother then leaves the child alone. After three minutes, the stranger returns, offers comfort and tries to play with the child. Finally the mother returns and the stranger leaves. Trained observers then code the video recording. Andrea K Lait V 0049493 The basic attachment types identified are Type A (Insecure - anxious avoid ant) - child does not seek proximity on reunion, rejects mother's attempts to calm or comfort.

Type B (Secure) - Proximity on reunion, allows mother to comfort and Type C (insecure - anxious ambivalent) - Shows both avoid ant and proximity seeking behaviour's - acts inconsistently towards mother. These attachment types then form the model on how a child reacts to others in relationships later on in adulthood. Therefore attachment theory provides not only a framework for understanding emotional reactions in children, but also a framework for understanding commitment, separation, and sadness in adults. Attachment styles in adults are thought to stem directly from the working models (or mental models) of oneself that were developed during infancy and childhood.

This report highlights the experiences of a middle aged married couple, and by carrying out a semi-structured interview reveals their experience of attachment and separation that occurred during their childhood. It evaluates their experiences and through a thematic analysis tries to show how attachment and separation may have affected their relationships in connection to Bowlby's theory of attachment. Method This qualitative textual analysis was carried out on two pre-existing pieces of material using a thematic analysis. The first a video, Research Methods in Psychology, Section Interviewing, which shows edited extracts from an interview with a married middle-aged couple called Tony and Jo. Two people interviewed the couple; first someone they know very well, Jane Tobbell, and second by someone they had never met before, Dan Good ley. They were interviewed in their home and the interviews were filmed.

Andrea K Lait V 0049493 The second piece of material was a transcription of the interviews, (see Appendix A). I as the researcher had no part in conducting the interviews, I have interpreted the video and transcript with my research question of attachment and separation in mind and my results are a reflection of this. I viewed the video several times and read the transcript several times, in order to identify salient incidents. I made notes on initial reactions of the interviewees and noted any non-verbal characteristics that could have an impact on the way the incidents could change my understanding of the interviews.

Various themes were chosen, as being the main topics, described in the analysis these were (i) Work, (ii) Childhood ( ) Relationships. The transcript of the interviews was then highlighted, and each theme was identified using different coloured highlighted pens. As the material used was pre-existing, ethical considerations such as informed consent, confidentiality anonymity have already been addressed. Analysis On viewing the video several times and reading the transcript also several times three themes were identified, with the research question of attachment and separation borne in mind; Work, Childhood, and Relationships.

Work Work seems to be very important to both Tony and Jo, and it is one of the first things mentioned in the interview when they are asked about what sort of person they are. A workaholic to a certain extent. (Tony) Line 7... We " re both tarred with the same brush of being workaholic. (Jo) Line 12 Andrea K Lait V 0049493 Work is referred to again later on when there is a relationship between work and the influence their parents had on them as they grew up. Its' part of our background, it's the Victorian work ethic, ...

(Tony) Line 54 Our parent's influence. (Jo) Line 59 This reference to their parents and how they have influenced their social personality relates to the vertical relationship they had with them, even though most of their childhood they must have spent separated from their parents because of the war. It is mentioned again later... I have to say that I think that one's parents' experiences Line 81 and aspirations certainly entered into it as well. (Tony) Line 82 Childhood When describing their childhoods both Tony and Jo had quite disruptive childhoods, which must have led them to have a number of various carers, other than their parents, during this period of their lives.

I had a very disrupted childhood... Line 24... and being moved round the country. (Tony) Line 26... and then I was evacuated. Which I found Line 45 quite traumatic... And then... Line 46 I went to boarding school...

(Jo) Line 47... that our fathers Line 90 were taken away from us because of the war. (Tony) Line 91... it was the period of whether he would get home. Line 95 And I remember that distinctly... (Jo) Line 96 Andrea K Lait V 0049493 When Tony and Jo discuss periods when they were children, and there parents were around them, they seem to have had a major impact of them as they relate back often to their parents experiences and values. Our parent's influence.

(Jo) Line 59... because Jo's mother Line 63 was... a Methodist and my father was as well. Line 64 And I think Methodist principles were fair firmly entrenched. (Tony) Line 65 Relationships During both interviews Tony and Jo refer to their relationships with each other as a couple, and the relationships that they have encountered during their younger years. But Jo's extremely generous and and kind.

(Tony) Line 18 They also wanted to turn me into something that perhaps Line 37 I wasn't. I always remember I was told... (Tony) Line 38... we know there was a separation and our Line 97 children got quite frightened didn't they? Were we going to Line 98 do the same thing. (Jo) Line 99 When Jo says this in the interview it is interesting as she looks towards Tony as if asking for confirmation that this was not going to happen to them as a couple. She looks as if she would like him to say something, but he remains silent and has a very inexpressive face.

Also when asked about their identity as a married couple, it seems un-natural for them to be able to have a 'shared identity'... I'll be quite honest with you, I don't think Line 110 we " ve ever achieved that (Tony) Line 111 Never. (Jo) Line 114 I don't think its's right anyway. (Jo) Line 129 Andrea K Lait V 0049493 The relationships with their children are also highlighted...

I can well imagine our children going right Line 140 throughout life and leading very independent lives (Tony) Line 141... give as much as you can to Line 147 your children... (Jo) Line 148... our children are not going to be awfully Line 151 influenced by our lifestyle in our early years. (Tony) DiscussionBowlby's theory of attachment suggests that as the newborn infant is so helpless it is with the mother that a unique attachment is developed. There may be other attachments that the child forms later on, but this 'mother / baby ' attachment is probably the most important one for future developing relationships and the mental stability of the person. In the interviews, Tony and Jo both seem to have had childhoods where they have had multiple attachments. Neither of them seemed to focus much on their memories of when they were young children, growing up with parents around.

The first recollections for them as children seemed to be when they were separated, and had to form new attachments. Tony actually says (Line 24) his childhood was disrupted and he was moved around the country, this must have led him to form new attachments. In fact he says (Line 40)... there are a lot of strange influences, ... there is quite a long pause at this point on the video, it is as if he is holding back on saying something, and he is remembering perhaps a relationship he had with someone at his boarding school. Other factors must be taken into consideration when examining attachment, and these are the general overall life experiences that have occurred. Tony and Jo both seem to have come from rather strict, religious families, and Jo does say (Line 59 "Our parent's influence". Reflecting this back to Bowlby's theory, the first attachments Tony and Jo had when they were growing up, and before their fathers went away to war, with their parents has remained with them and been securely embedded in their inner working models of attachment.

This is perhaps why work is so important to them, and they seem Andrea K Lait V 0049493 to be fairly committed to one another, even though when you take into account some of the non-verbal signals (see attached transcript, Appendix A) they do not appear to be a particularly "close" couple. An interesting notion to Bowlby's theory was that experiences and patterns of behaviour that occurred in childhood are passed on from generation to generation. It is because these inner working models are so firmly embedded within oneself that it can be difficult to effect change. This concept is borne out in the interviews at (Line 140,141) " But well I can well imagine our children going right throughout life and leading very independent lives". In the video of this interview Tony laughs at this point. There is finally a very interesting comment by Jo (Line 154). ". being the stability because children like stability... stable base that you make around them that matters more... ". which shows how the attachment between mother and child is so important and it is this feeling of security and of being loved which serves as the safe base from which they can explore.

The attachment that perhaps Jo didn't experience when she was a child, because she went to boarding school, she is trying to change and so alter her internal working model, to provide stability for her own children. This is borne out in Bowbly's theory, which acknowledged that attachment behaviour's could be regarded as changing and fluid. Reflexivity Analysis In analysis this video and transcript, it was challenging in so much as I was not the person asking the question. The limitation of analyzing secondary material was quite constraining.

Had I been the interviewer I would probably wanted to ask more about Tony and Jo's childhood and the reasons why they were sent away to boarding school. I would have thought this was not a common occurrence at that time, so the decision to send them away must have been quite a hard one to make. It would have said so much more about the relationship they had as children with their parents. Also I would have wanted to know how they felt about being sent away, did they feel angry or resentment towards their parents for doing this to them.

There were certainly times during the interview I felt that Tony especially did not seem to be telling the interviewer everything, and he says in the interview with Carol Tindall... ". trying to keep off subjects that you Andrea K Lait V 0049493 don't really want to discuss". If the person you are interviewing you doesn't tell you everything, it is difficult to get a complete picture of events. It makes the use of qualitative research interviews somewhat limiting when that basis for conducting this type of research in the first place is to 'get inside' the persons mind to bring out experiences and feelings. I did find that Tony and Jo non-verbal actions had an effect on the way I interpreted what they actually said. It was interesting to see Jo smile and raise her eyebrows when Tony says at the beginning of the first interview he is "Fairly easy going". It led me as a researcher to think that perhaps this was not actually the case, in Jo's opinion.

Actions like this give the interview a complete different angle, and can add tremendous information to the final interpretation of what is said. Andrea K Lait V 0049493

Bibliography

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Open University Press. Harris, J.R. (1999) The Nurture Assumption, London Bloomsbury.