Childhood Attachment Styles

Attachment is a long lasting emotional connection between a child and its caregiver (Berger, 2014), and it does not exist in a vacuum. In fact, a child’s attachment style has long-term impacts on how a child will one day interact with friends and even their romantic partners one day (Berger, 2014). In light of the significance of a child’s attachment style, it would seem wise to intentionally protect and nurture healthy styles of attachment. Research shows more children have healthy attachment styles than unhealthy ones, but attachment styles are never set in stone (Berger, 2014). Attachment styles are fluid and have the potential to change even into adulthood. Furthermore, research has shown traumatic events such as divorce have the potential
The mother nurtures the child, creating a sense of kindness and caring. Whereas a father’s style of connection elicits laughter and independence (Berger, 2014). It appears when both parents are working in tandem it creates a sense of independence and connection. Furthermore, a child who is born into a two-parent family works towards connecting with both sets of parents (Insert Citation). However, divorce disrupts and impairs a couple’s ability to parent and the connection a child has with both parents (Shansky, 2002). Sometimes the father appears to step out of the picture and the mother takes over as sole caregiver. At other times, the parents seem to spend more time & energy fighting than on caring for their child. Altering a child’s environment in such a way has long-term effects on how a child attaches with others. Such a change doesn’t always happen immediately, but substantial research does point to children of divorce having significantly impaired attachment styles when they hit adulthood (Crowell, Trebox, & Brockmeyer,
As mentioned before, collectivistic cultures have more conservative views regarding divorce; nevertheless, many collectivistic cultures have migrated towards more individualistic cultures (Afifi, et al., 2013). This has created an interesting dynamic where children are being raised in a macrosystem (Berger, 2014) which values things in disagreement with their host culture. Children from a collectivistic culture who grow up in an individualistic culture are impacted in many different ways, and one of those ways is in their view of divorce. In Afif, Davis, Denes, and Merrill’s (2013) study they found younger Hispanic Americans who had grown up in the United States were more likely to pursue divorce. One would guess what kind of reaction the older Hispanic American generations would have. Nevertheless, this study discovered a very different reaction than one might suppose. What was discovered was a family which embraced the family going through a divorce. Instead of viewing it as “their" divorce, Hispanic American families seemed to view the divorce as “our” divorce (Afif, et al., 2013). Instead of abandoning the family, extended family members plugged the gaps of the caregiver who stepped away because of the divorce. It appears Hispanic Americans make a concerted effort to ensure a child grows up with healthy attachments even in the