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Theories Of Childhood Attachment

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Theories Of Childhood Attachment
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Attachment theory is concerned with the human relationship. Attachment develops right from the birth between the infant and primary care providers. Attachment forms the basis of human nature, temperament and behavior. Children who get appropriate attention right from the infancy and formative years engage and accomplish success in their endeavors. Attachment provided to the individual is depicted in their behavior, self-esteem and confidence which they display during adulthood. Childhood attention develops attachment or bonding between the infant and care providers which pave the way of behavior and attitude towards others. As behavior of the individual is framed by various factors such as social where society shapes the personality,
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On the contrary, insecure attachment is recognized as a risk factor that works together with family atmosphere and surroundings to enhance the likelihood of childhood behavior problems. Questionably, insecure attachment is responsible for deviant behavior when parents do not respond and support their children thereby germinating the seeds of anger and hostility. Such children possibly believe that their care providers will not meet their requirements. Maladaptive pathway is responsible for early insecure attachment which gradually develops into negative models of relationship in later childhood years. Insecure children display their negative feelings towards the care providers by developing negative internal working models of attachment relationships. On the other hand, research carried out with close and affectionate relationships between children and caretakers reveals that attachment facilitates internalization of rules of conduct in the child and enhances the possibility of child committing to the welfare of others (Dawson et al., …show more content…

Ladnier and Massanari (2000) pointed that behavioral characteristics of avoidant children have similarity with ADHD, however, evidence is lacking to authenticate that ADHD occurs with greater propensity amongst children with an avoidant attachment style. On the other hand, another study carried out by Clark et al., (2002), highlighted that attachment insecurity prevalent in children diagnosed with ADHD was dependable with an ambivalent attachment style. According to Smith (1994) dis-attachment which is the repercussion of deprived mother-child bondage exhibit the symptoms of ADHD, further the study claimed that an underlying deficiency of the neurotransmitter, serotonin, is responsible for the symptoms of ADHD in addition to those behaviors that disallow proper parent-child bonding.
Ladnier and Massanari (2000) also described ADHD as a consequence of “attachment deficits” resulting from bonding break which is an incident that stops a child from forming a secure attachment with mother or a care provider. The torment of abortive attachment interferes with neurological development, causing attachment deficits, or inadequacies in emotional development of the child. As a result of these emotional deficiencies, behavioral symptoms of ADHD apparently develop in the


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