Adult Attachment Style
Adult Attachment Style.
Adult Attachment Style Relationships are complicated enough without having to worry about what your attachment style is. However, the type of attachment style a person is greatly influences what kind of relationship they will have later on in life. When children are young, they develop a unique attachment with the parent(s) or primary caregiver. This attachment is the basic building blocks that help determine what type of attachment style will dominate the different dimensions of relationships throughout adolescents and adulthood.
I have recently completed a questionnaire designed to determine specific aspects of adult attachment style. This type of research is designed to measure the range of attachment as related to anxiety and avoidance associated with adult attachment theories. According to the questionnaire, I scored 2. 60 for attachment related anxiety on a scale of 1-7 one being low and 7 high. My other score was 2. 33 for attachment related avoidance using the same scale ranging from 1-7 one being low and 7 high. My combined score classified me in the secure quadrant.
What this means is that for myself and those who scored in the low range of anxiety and avoidance, and falling in the secure quadrant are more likely to have satisfying relationships, are comfortable expressing emotions and tend not to suffer from depression and other psychological disorders. One other component is that people with similar attachment styles tend to partner together. I found this to be very interesting because I had my husband take the questionnaire and to my surprise he scored 3. 83 attachment-related anxiety, 3. 8 attachment-related avoidanceonly a few points higher than me and he also fall into the secure quadrant. Whatever adult attachment stylesa person is there seems to be a link between the infant and their parent(s)/caregiver relationship, and how it will impact future relationships. Research, theorizes that secure attachment in infancies is the result of the parent seeing to every need of the infant and establishing a loving and safe environment. Psychologist Mary Ainsworth developer of the procedure, known as “Strange Situation” provided research offering explanations of individual differences in attachment styles.
She identified three main attachments, secure(the category I fall in), insecure avoidant and insecure ambivalent concluding that these attachments were the result of early interaction with the mother. I believe that a child has a better chance at becoming a secure and emotionally sound adult when the parent(s) or caregiver(s) establishes positive attachment patterns such as a nurturing relationship anda sense of security. McLeod, S. A. (2008). Mary Ainsworth | Attachment Styles. Retrieved from http://www. simplypsychology. org/mary-ainsworth. html