Understanding Attachment Security in Family Context

• Published in: Journal of personality and social psychology 2000-02, Vol.78 (2), p.285-294
• Main Author: Cook, William L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Attachment Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Cognitive development; Couple and family; Emotional Security; Families & family life; Family; Family Members; Family Relations; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Humans; Interpersonal Interaction; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Middle Aged; Models, Psychological; Object Attachment; Parent-Child Relations; Parenthood; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Security; Self Concept; Social Adjustment; Social development; Social psychology; Social relations
• ISSN: 0022-3514; 1939-1315
• DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.78.2.285

Attachment theory ( J. Bowlby, 1969 ) is not just about how internalized models of relationships affect interpersonal outcomes; it is primarily a theory about how interpersonal processes affect social and cognitive development. This study tested 3 hypotheses about the interpersonal sources of adult attachment security: (a) attachment security is relationship specific, (b) characteristics of partners affect attachment security, and (c) security of attachment is reciprocated. Measures of attachment security were obtained from 2 parents and 2 children (adolescent or older) in 208 middle-class families. Results of social relations model analysis ( D. A. Kenny & L. La Voie, 1984 ) supported all 3 hypotheses. The author concludes that internal working models of relationships may not be so "internal" after all and that greater emphasis on the interpersonal sources of adult attachment security is warranted.