Attachment & Parenting Lecture Notes PDF

Attachment & Parenting PSYC348 Lecturer: Jenna van Deurs Questions: vevox.app (ID:183-070-161) Attachment • When caregivers are attuned to their children’s need for safety, security, & physical care, & they are sensitive to & responsive to their children’s needs, they become a secure base from wh...

Attachment & Parenting PSYC348 Lecturer: Jenna van Deurs Questions: vevox.app (ID:183-070-161) Attachment • When caregivers are attuned to their children’s need for safety, security, & physical care, & they are sensitive to & responsive to their children’s needs, they become a secure base from which children feel safe to explore the world. • This facilitates psychological adjustment i.e., exploration from a safe base facilitates learning, mastery, self-esteem, and emotional regulation. • Key Attachment Theorist: John Bowlby • Suggested when children are faced with threat, they seek proximity with their caregivers, once they have received comfort they can return to the task of exploring • This cyclical interaction repeats each time a child perceives threat, and they are driven to meet their need for safety and security • This attachment behaviour is distinct from love & bonding Types of Attachment • Key Theorist: Mary Ainsworth • Developed the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) to measure attachment in infants aged 12-20 months • The purpose of SSP is to place the infant in a new environment with a stranger & their caregiver & gradually increase the stress (separation from care) so attachment behaviours are triggered & can be observed • After analysing & scoring this behaviour the child’s attachment pattern is classified as secure or insecure (Anxious, Avoidant, Disorganised) • Gold standard measure of assessment in infancy. Unsuitable for older children & adolescents Impact of Attachment Type • Secure attachment associated with self-confidence, higher self— esteem, more resilience, social competence • Insecure attachment associated with lower levels of competence in social relationships & higher levels of internalising & externalising problems in childhood when compared to children with secure attachment in infancy • However, correlation ≠ causation. Attachment insecurity is only one risk factor for the development of psychological issues. • Organisation/disorganisation of attachment behaviour matters more. Disorganised attachment is most strongly associated with psychopathology. • Internal Working Model (IWM) is thought to help explain the link between attachment type in childhood & later outcomes. • However, attachment in infancy likely affects people throughout their lifetime as a result of dynamic, transactional processes influenced by a range of related variables (e.g., poverty, parent mental health, parenting style) Attachment Security is Modifiable • Bowlby believed there was a set window when people could develop secure attachment or not • However, evidence suggests that attachment can change and improve throughout child development • Nevertheless, insecure attachment alone doesn’t necessarily warrant attachment intervention Facilitating Attachment Intervention Examples: • Theraplay • Watch Wait and Wonder • Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy • Circle of Security Common Strategies: • Safety & protection (e.g., predictability) • Attunement (e.g., recognise child’s needs & respond sensitively) • Emotion regulation (e.g., empathetic, help co-regulate) • Expressed delight (e.g., playfulness) • Fostering a strong & unique self (e.g., child-led play, support as needed) Popular Culture Views of Attachment • Attachment is facilitated by a caregiver ALWAYS being available to the child (e.g., attachment parenting) • Doesn’t align with psychological literature regarding attachment theory • In fact, attachment theory emphasises the importance of children being able to separate from their attachment figure in order to learn • This happens when children know they can rely on their parents to be responsive to them (not ALL of the time though) • Parenting that fosters attachment is permissive/overly lax • All children need boundaries & structure • These can be upheld by parents in a sensitive & responsive manner • A caregiver and child can be securely attached to one another • A child forms an attachment to their caregiver • But a caregiver does not form an attachment with their child Sleep & Attachment • Concern = sleep interventions could negatively impact attachment, particularly when extinction of parent attention is involved • Research so far = no negative consequences for attachment • Gradisar et al. (2016) found no increase to infant cortisol levels, no negative effects on infant-parent attachment, no impaired emotional or behavioural development • Price et al. (2012) found no difference in emotional or behavioural regulation, attachment styles, or stress between infants who had participated in graduated extinction, and infants who had not. • Akdoğan (2018) found that sleep interventions caused no harm to the infant, parent, or attachment relationship, and it improved family wellbeing • Bilgin & Wolke (2020) found no differences in behavioural development or attachment between infants who were never left to cry it out, and those who were left to cry it out ‘a few times’, or ‘often’. • Research suggests periods whereby a child is not responded to, or responded to less overnight is not significant enough for a child’s attachment to be affected, although more research is warranted • Extant research has investigated whether it is safe to do sleep interventions with families whereby children are not reliably responded to outside of the sleep context Time Out & Attachment Concern = Time out can threaten attachment Research = Time out can promote attachment by practicing brief separations and reunions successfully in a predictable and loving way (when used effectively) • Should communicate “You are loved”, “You are safe”, “This is not about you or us, it is just about this instance of aggression” • This enables an attachment bond to be maintained throughout the discipline event • When used ineffectively it may threaten attachment Effective use of Time-out 1) Time out should only be used for inappropriate child behaviour which the child has some control over & that is functional in producing some desired outcome for the child (e.g., not for lack of skill) 2) Effectiveness should be judged by rapid reductions in challenging behaviour & thus less need to use it 3) Parent behaviour during the procedure should be calm and promote attachment (e.g., accepting of child & emotions, not behaviour) 4) Used as one component of a broader positive parenting programme 5) Throughout, the child remains safe, valued, and loved (i.e., no communication of abandonment) Effective use of Time-out 6) Ends when child is calm 7) Child needs to receive emotional & behavioural regulation support before time out is used 8) Used for behaviour that have been prespecified as unacceptable (e.g., house rules) 9) Time out use based on shared ideas of acceptable behaviour (i.e., versus parent impulse) 10) Should be applied equally & fairly across children in a family/household Dadds, M. R., & Tully, L. A. (2019). What Is It to Discipline a Child: What Should It Be? A Reanalysis of Time-Out From the Perspective of Child Mental Health, Attachment, and Trauma. American Psychologist. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/amp0000449