How Mother and Child Relationships Impact Adult Relationships

The purpose of this paper is to provide the reader with knowledge of individual differences and attachment, particularly within the context of mother / caregiver– child attachment and how it impacts adult attachment relationships and or patterns. There is an association between individual differences in adult attachment and the way people think about their relationships, and of what their relationships with their mothers / parents or primary caregivers are like. In other words, as adults the relationships we have with other adults are influenced by relationships we have with our parents as children. John Bowlby was a British Psychoanalyst who originally developed the theory of attachment. He examined distress experienced by infants who had been separated from their mothers / parents, which is commonly known as separation anxiety. He noted that infants would express intense emotional and physical signs or actions, such as crying, clinging, and frantic searching for comfort. The purpose of these actions would be to either prevent separation from their parents or reestablish closeness to a missing parent. Bowlby would later classify these behaviors as attachment behaviors. He reasoned that crying and searching were adaptive responses to separation from the parent or attachment figure, who is the person or persons who provide support, protection, love and care. Infants and small children obviously depend on their parents for everything since they areShow MoreRelatedAttachment Styles : The Understanding Of Social Development Essay1268 Words   |  6 Pagesdevelopment. These attachment styles are influenced by a child’s environment and their relationship with th eir parents as young children and infants. These relationships can have both a positive or negative affect on future adult relationships. Both father and mother, whether present or not present have equal impact on the child, and their attachment style. 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