John Bowlby Attachment Theory Essay

The Relationship Between Children who are raised in a Single Parent Household that is Opposite Sex of Child versus the Same Sex of a Child and Onset of Sexual Activity

The ideologies of what is considered early sexual onset for adolescence has radically changed during this past century. The legal age of sexual consent currently ranges between ages 16 to 18 in the United States. Previously, in the United States the legal age of consent was between the ages of 10 to 12 years old, with the exception of Delaware of age 7 in the year of 1880. In recent years, over the past decade there has been a national push including programs, funding, and educational services to promote abstinence for youth in America. Currently teen birth rates are lower
Bowlby began his work in psychology as a psychiatrist for the Child Guidance Clinic in London. While treating emotionally disturbed children in London it prompted Bowlby to begin conducting research focusing on the importance of the relationship between the mother and the child as it relates to the child’s social, emotional and cognitive development. Specifically, it shaped his belief about the connection between early infant separations with the mother and this led Bowlby to develop the attachment theory.
Bowlby began working with James Robertson in 1951. While conducting research they observed that children experienced intense distress when separated from their mothers. Even when the child was fed by other caregivers, it did not stop the child’s anxiety. The behavioral theory of attachment stated that the child becomes attached to the mother because she fed the infant. Bowlby defined attachment as a lasting psychological connectedness between human beings. Furthermore the attachment to a mother or parent can affect an adolescence behavior, and cause negative outward behavior including onset of early sexual
Research has shown that the reasons behind increase in sexually active youth can be tied to numerous reasons including, family structure, socioeconomic levels, lack of sexual education, and peer pressure. Previous research shows that depending on what type of family structure a child was raised in, that can greatly impact the child’s views on sex and the onset of sexual activity. The theories described in the theoretical framework section discuss why the relationship between the mother and child is so important especially in distress situations. In this research study we are specifically focusing on the relationship between single-parent same sex versus single parent opposite sex relationships. The theory has demonstrated the importance of the relationship between the parent and the child and with the absence of the parent the child becomes emotionally distressed. Single parents tend to become more absent in the child’s life due to lack to parental support. This absence during the adolescent years could trigger distress and may cause early sexual onset in