Types of attachment and their consequences in adulthood

These are the ways in which attachment developed in childhood influences us in adulthood.

Developmental Psychology is the branch of psychology that deals with understanding the maturational developmental processes of people from early life to old age, including both.

Using this knowledge, mental health experts can establish which are the behaviors and situations that promote a good psychological development, and which are the elements that are capable of "unraveling" these processes.

Of all the phases of life, childhood is the one that deserves special attention, since in these early years we are especially sensitive to what is happening around us and to the consequences of our actions. In fact, exposing ourselves to experiences that mark us negatively can generate problems that can last for years or even decades without professional psychological help.

In this article we are going to focus on one of the main ways in which, for better and for worse, what happens in the context in which we are created influences our development and even what we tend to do, think and feel once we are adults. It is about the types of attachment we establish with our fathers and mothers..

What is attachment?

Technically, attachment is the set of psychological phenomena which lead us to psychological phenomena that lead us to adopt concrete and stable patterns of behavior when we relate to other individuals or groups.. But in practice, in the case of Developmental Psychology, the concept of attachment that is most interesting is the one that refers to the patterns of behavior, thinking and management of emotions that we develop as a result of the way in which we interact in our childhood with our persons of reference: fathers and mothers, or in their absence, the people who take on these roles.

Human beings do not mature psychologically in a self-sufficient way, interacting by ourselves with the world. We are a species characterized by our marked dependence on adults during our first years of life, and this is not by chance. If we are able to think in a sophisticated way and possess great intelligence, it is precisely because in most cases we have a support network made up of society, and at the center of this network are the most important figures: our fathers and mothers.

Generally, this allows us to have many needs guaranteed, so that our body can afford to put the focus on the maintenance and development of a large brain that is rapidly filling up with information. And since this predisposes us to learn a lot from a very young age, we are constantly internalizing knowledge, even if we don't realize it. And in this sense, interaction with parents is one of the main ways in which we receive information..

However, what we learn through our relationship with our caregivers does not simply remain in the intellectual realm: it involves our emotions, since the emotional is one of the fastest ways of learning and is capable of leaving things engraved in our memory. For this reason, practically from the beginning of our existence we develop a certain type of attachment with these people. This type of attachment will generate a "domino effect" in our predisposition to behave in this way.This type of attachment will generate a "domino effect" in our predisposition to behave, since at that stage of life almost everything is yet to be explored and at the same time our main referents, the caregivers, are only one or two.

Thus, the mother or father is the area that is familiar to us and from which we explore the unknown. But, unfortunately, not in all cases "familiar" means "safe" or "pleasant", and this can lead to long-term problems resulting from a dysfunctional type of attachment.

The elements that psychologists specialized in Developmental Psychology focus on in order to know what type of attachment a child has developed or is developing are, mainly, The appearance of these behavior patterns by the child, directed towards the mother or father.:

• The search for direct and physical contact
• The degree to which this direct contact is maintained without interruption.
• The resistance to contact or to attempts to help and/or protect
• The tendency to avoid contact

From these criteria it is possible to establish the presence of different attachment styles, which we will explain below.which we will explain below.

Types of attachment in childhood, and their influence on adulthood

Now that we have seen what the attachment patterns developed during childhood consist of, it is time to go into detail and understand the details and distinctive characteristics of each of them, as well as how they affect the development of the adult personality.

Just as the way in which the foundations of a building are laid out will limit the forms that can be taken by the constructions that go on top of them, the types of attachment that we have developed in our childhood, mainly to our mothers and fathers, also have a great influence on the paths that we will take as adults. also have a great influence on the paths that our personality development and the behavioral patterns we express in adulthood will take. patterns of behavior that we express in adulthood.

Therefore, a good understanding of the way in which a child's upbringing is occurring is helpful in preventing the emergence of future psychological complications and dysfunctional social interaction patterns.

Of course, it would be a mistake to believe that the types of attachment developed in early life affect only the way we tend to relate to others as adults.

Of course, this area of life is one of those that most clearly shows how we came to bond with our primary caregivers during infancy, but it should not be forgotten that the way we learned to interact with others as children shapes the way we think and feel in general; after all, if we think of ourselves as a child, we are more likely to think and feel the way we do.After all, if we think through abstract concepts, it is thanks to the socialization and use of language that we "inherit" from others.

Therefore, attachment types are also involved in all internalizing psychological processes: the maintenance of one or another form of self-esteem, our way of seeing reality and, in general, the philosophy of life that we adopt without realizing it and that leads us to be the way we are.

Having said that, these are the different ways in which attachment types influence behavioral dynamics once adulthood has been reached.

Secure attachment

Secure attachment occurs when parents balance their children's need for protection and their need for freedom: they let them explore at their own pace but let them explore at their own pace.Secure attachment: they let them explore at their own pace but safely, and at the same time they are there for everything they need, both materially and affectively. It is therefore the most desirable type of attachment.

As for its implications for adulthood, people who developed this form of attachment tend to feel supported by the people with whom they have confidence and generally feel encouraged to undertake their projects if the material and intellectual conditions are present to achieve that goal. In addition, they have an easier time developing good self-esteem.

2. Avoidant attachment

In avoidant attachment, children learn that they cannot expect much from their caregivers. they cannot expect much from their caregivers, and so they show a tendency to avoid social experiences and seem to become engrossed in social stimuli. and seem self-absorbed in stimuli on which they can focus as individuals.

Once they have reached adulthood, those who have developed this type of attachment may need psychological help to learn how to manage their social relationships properly and make long-term commitments, as they find it difficult to trust others and tend to focus on themselves by default.

3. Ambivalent attachment

In ambivalent attachment, children fear the unpredictability of interactions with their caregivers, as sometimes they go well and sometimes they bring unpleasant experiences. Not knowing what to expect leads them to develop anxiety-related disturbances..

In adulthood, ambivalent attachment can give way to anxiety problems whose consequences accumulate over time, and it is also common to develop dependency in partner relationships, feeling worried about abandonment.

4. Disorganized attachment

Disorganized attachment is the most damaging type of attachment, and is directly pathological.. It occurs in clearly dysfunctional families in which there is violence, drug use, poor living conditions, etc. Due to the hostility of this context, disorganized attachment is associated with psychiatric disorders.

In adulthood, disorganized attachment is associated with a greater predisposition to develop virtually any type of psychological or psychiatric disorder, and in a large portion of cases there is trauma-related damage that must be treated.

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You can count on us either attending our psychology center located in Seville or using our online therapy modality. To see our contact details and more information about our way of working, access this page.

Bibliographical references:

• Bowlby, J. (1977). The making and breaking of affectional bonds. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 130(3): pp. 201 - 210.
• Bretherton, I. (1992). The Origins of Attachment Theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Developmental Psychology. 28(5): pp. 759 - 775.
• Cassidy, J.; Shaver, P.R. (1999). Handbook of Attachment:Theory, Research and Clinical Applications. New York: Guilford Press.
• Feeney, J. & Noller P. (2001). Adult attachment. Bilbao: Desclée de Brouwer.
• Sanz, L.J. (2012). Psicología evolutiva y de la educación. Manuales CEDE de Preparación PIR, 10. CEDE: Madrid.
• Takahashi, K. (1990). Are the key assumptions of the "strange situation" procedure universal? A view from Japanese research. Human Development, 33: pp. 23 - 30.
• Wallin, D. (2012). El apego en psicoterapia. Bilbao: Desclée De Brouwer.