PSYCHOTHERAPY

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy

Attachment Theory

Attachment theory is a theory about the emotional affinity to seek closeness to another person, to feel secure when that person is present, and to feel anxious when that person is absent. It originated in 1958 when John Bowlby introduced the foundation of attachment concepts in his paper "the Nature of the Child's Tie to his Mother" and Harry Harlow's paper "the Nature of Love" which discusses the results of experiments with monkeys, exemplifying that infant monkey's preferred emotional attachment over food.

Therefore, as a result of the these theoretical grounds, together with much indirect evidence to suggest, attachments are an instinctive behavior which occur naturally with a caregiver, to protect from danger, facilitate safe exploration of the environment, teach children how to cope with the same problem in the future and provide a sense of security and trust (Bowlby,1982, as cited in Mardell 1992), These attachments generally occur firstly with the parents, however, when children are subjected to childcare at an early age they develop with their caregiver secondary attachments which also become very important (Gonzalez-Mena & Windmeyer-Eyer, 1989), in fact due to their findings, some researchers suggests is the most important determinant of secondary attachment for those children who attend childcare (Howes 1998, as cited in Mardell, 1992).

Unfortunately it has been found that a slightly higher percentage of approximately 7% of insecure attachments in children can be attributed to children who attend childcare (Lamb, Sternberg & Prodomidis as cited in Berk, 2006). This can have considerable implications, as children who suffer from insecure attachment have been found to have more behavioral problems, lack confidence, are more aggressive and alarmingly have comparably higher cortisol levels, a chemical found to be released in the body when stress occurs, (Sims, Guilfoyle & Parry, 2005) and as established by many writers chronic stress has been associated to weaken the immune system leaving the child more prone to severe illness potentially leaving them at risk of harmful outcomes (Padgett and Glasser, 2003; Sagi, Koren-Karie, Gini, Ziv and Joel, 2002).

In addition to the above implications, insecure attachment as a result of childcare attendance has been found to often impede the learning and development of young children. As an example, children who have secure attachments are found to engage in more play which leads to further development and learning than children who have insecure attachments who are found to engage in less play, obstructing further developing and learning (Mardell, 2002). Hence, as Howes and Hamiliton (1992) argue attachment influences children's development.

However, in contrast there is significant research suggesting that children who attend childcare which is of a quality standard in fact benefit from secure attachments. But before discussing these ideas in more detail it is necessary to clarify what the concept of quality childcare is. Quality care utilises the recommended child/staff ratio increasing the likelihood of more one on one time; an environment that is safe and well planned, with appropriate age related resources creating an atmosphere that enhances learning and development, trained and qualified ...