A secure base script perspective on attachment: progress, promise, and prospects.

To examine the relations between traditionally assessed early maladaptive schemas and the attachment-specific secure base script (a script-like representation of what individuals expect to happen when they face distress), to inform our understanding of beliefs about the self in relation to others. The present study took an ecologically driven approach, assessing knowledge of the secure base script from descriptions of current relationships. A cross-sectional design was used. One hundred forty-six undergraduate students, recruited as part of a larger study on adversity and self-concept, provided narrative descriptions of their current relationships. Narratives were coded for attachment-related 'secure base' content using a secure base script scale for relationship narratives. Early maladaptive schemas were assessed with the Young Schema Questionnaire, and attachment was additionally evaluated using the Experiences in Close Relationships questionnaire. Self-reported attachment avoidance and anxiety were related to secure base script content in theory-consistent ways. The extent to which participants described secure base script content was inversely associated with four out of five maladaptive schemas characterized most centrally by disconnection from others. Furthermore, these associations remained significant when controlling for self-reported attachment style. Self-reported attachment avoidance and anxiety also were related to maladaptive schemas in a predictable pattern. Results bridge cognitive and attachment theories, supporting the interrelatedness of secure base script knowledge assessed in current relationships, and schema-related content regarding connectedness with others. Better integration of theories regarding internal representations may serve to enrich psychotherapeutic formulation from a variety of clinical perspectives. Schema Therapy's (Young, Klosko, & Weishaar, 2003 , Schema therapy: A practitioner's guide. New York: Guilford Press) early maladaptive schemas, with themes of disconnection from others/in relationships, are related to the attachment construct of knowledge of a secure base script. Applying secure base script coding procedure to a relationship speech task provides a potentially valuable performance-based tool for evaluating important attachment related constructs in a brief, non-obtrusive format. Better understanding of how self-schema and attachment constructs are associated may be of benefit to case formulation for psychotherapeutic intervention.

Secure base scripts (SBS) are thought of as the earliest, rudimentary mental representations of attachment, comprising temporally and causally related events occurring in interactions between children and their attachment figures. SBS have been studied in preschool children, adolescents and adults, but there is little research relating SBS to other attachment measures in middle childhood. Here, the Secure Base Script Test (SBST), a narrative-based measure of attachment scripts in middle childhood, was developed and evaluated. In two studies with 7–12-year-olds (total N = 261), high internal consistency, inter-rater reliability and discriminant validity was established. SBS knowledge was consistent across different contexts and relationships and converged strongly with security and coherence in representations assessed by the Friends and Family Interview and moderately with self-reported attachment security. Furthermore, SBS knowledge predicted children’s capacity to respond to distress in an adaptive way. Our findings may be taken to provide some first evidence for generalized scripted attachment knowledge already in middle childhood.

The secure-base phenomenon is central to the Bowlby/Ainsworth theory of attachment and is also central to the assessment of attachment across the lifespan. The present study tested whether mothers' knowledge about the secure-base phenomenon, as assessed using a recently designed wordlist prompt measure for eliciting attachment-relevant stories, would predict their children's securebase behavior, as assessed by observers in the home and summarized with the Attachment Q-set (AQS). In each of three sociocultural groups (from Colombia, Portugal, and the US), scores characterizing the quality of maternal secure-base narratives elicited using the word-list prompt procedure were internally consistent, as indicated by tests of cross-story reliability, and they were positively and significantly associated with the child's security score from the AQS for each subsample. The correlation in the combined sample was r(129) = .33, p < .001. Subsequent analyses with the combined sample evaluated the AQS item-correlates of the secure-base script score.These analyses showed that mothers whose stories indicate that they have access to and use a positive secure-base script in their story production have children who treat them as a “secure base” at home. These results suggest that a core feature of adult attachment models, in each of the three sociocultural groups studied, is access to a secure-base script. Additional results from the study indicate that cross-language translations of the maternal narratives can receive valid, reliable scores even when evaluated by non-native speakers.

Maternal secure base scripts predict child attachment security in an at-risk sample

Disruptions in normal attachment, signaled by intense separation distress, can be conceptualized as a central risk factor underlying the development of anorexia and bulimia nervosa. In a preliminary study of the hypothesis, Hansburg's Separation Anxiety Test, derived from Bowlby's attachment theory, was administered to eating-disordered inpatients. These patients evidenced significantly more severe separation and attachment difficulties than is normal in adolescence and in adults undergoing developmentally based relationship crises. They appear to make no cognitive distinction between brief, everyday leavetakings and more permanent breaks. The implications of these findings, and of Bowlby's attachment theory, for the understanding and treatment of eating disorders is discussed.

Secure attachment is characterised by a secure base script regarding the attachment figure as a source for support. Having such a cognitive script should affect the stability of state attachment. Specifically, incongruent attachment-related information should get assimilated to this secure base script, leading to state attachment scores that hardly fluctuate. For children without a script, state attachment should vary depending on the quality of attachment-related interactions. Two diary studies were carried out in 9- to 13-year-old children. Results suggested that with assimilation: (1) securely attached children fluctuated less in their daily attachment-related appraisals; (2) fluctuations were related to conflicts with mother; (3) this relation was stronger for less securely attached children. Consequently, these studies further support the secure base script hypothesis and provide insight into the interplay of trait and state components of attachment-related appraisals.

After two decades of theoretical and descriptive work, we know a great deal about the developmental course of early attachment relationships. We know considerably less about the mechanisms underlying consistency and change. Indeed, the most pressing issue in attachment theory is to explain well-replicated correlations between early care and subsequent patterns of secure base behavior, and between secure base behavior in infancy and subsequent behavior with parents and siblings, social competence, self-esteem, and behavior problems. As a step in this direction, we examine Bowlby's developmental outline, with an eye toward providing greater detail and incorporating traditional learning mechanisms into Bowlby's attachment theory.

The intricate tapestry of human relational dynamics, embedded within the foundational attachment styles established during infancy, remains a focal point in developmental psychology. The legacy of John Bowlby's attachment theory, coupled with Mary Ainsworth's seminal classifications, has posited potential lifelong ramifications of early attachment styles, particularly avoidant and anxious ones, on personality maturation and subsequent interpersonal relationships. This paper endeavors to unravel the enduring influences of these early attachment styles, spotlighting their trajectory from infancy to adulthood and their pervasive impacts on the psyche and relational dynamics. In sum, the exploration of avoidant and anxious attachment styles rooted in infancy provides a window into the enduring influence these early experiences have on one's developmental journey, from personality formation to the intricacies of future relationships. It is through understanding and addressing these foundational attachment dynamics that can aspire to cultivate a society characterized by healthier relational bonds and psychological well-being.

Lack of a self-report measure of late adolescent parental attachment style has threatened to hinder expansion of the empirical basis of attachment theory. Two studies were undertaken that provided evidence of validity for a new classification of parental attachment style from patterns of scores on the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (G. C. Armsden & M. T. Greenberg, 1987). Discriminant function analyses differentiated among secure, ambivalent, and avoidant attachment with 2 empirically derived dimensions, which paralleled the essential attachment functions theorized by M. D. S. Ainsworth (1989). Overall, insecurely attached late adolescents reported greater depression, anxiety, and worry than their securely attached counterparts. For women but not for men, insecure attachment was associated with diminished college adjustment and lower intimacy development. These results portend the promise of investigations of parental attachment style to elucidate contributions of parental attachment to late adolescent development and adjustment. John Bowlby's (1969, 1973) attachment theory has provided a theoretical paradigm from which to investigate the complexities of development throughout life. The necessity of parental ties for successful late adolescent development is a fundamental extension of Bowlby's (1969) original formulations, in which the infant's ability to explore the world is predicated on use of the parent as a secure base (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). Recent research has affirmed the importance of parental attachment for successful late adolescent development, as manifest in such challenges as adjusting to the demands of college life (Larose & Boivin, 1998; Rice, FitzGerald, Whaley, & Gibbs, 1995), becoming assertive in interpersonal relationships (Kenny, 1987,1990), and committing to career goals (Blustein, Walbridge, Friedlander, & Palladino, 1991). Realization of the potential of attachment theory that these studies portend requires expansion of existing assessment techniques (Kenny & Rice, 1995). This article presents two studies that provide evidence for the validity of a new means to classify parental attachment style from self-report data, thereby addressing a recognized lacuna in counseling measurement and facilitating expansion of the empirical basis of late adolescent attachment theory.

This paper examines the origin and development of Bowlby's attachment theory and its impact on contemporary bereavement research. Adopting a personal perspective, it outlines the evolution of Bowlby's ideas, their influence on our research and understanding of grief and grieving, and the reciprocal impact of the ideas of bereavement researchers on Bowlby's thinking about attachment and separation through death. It traces Bowlby's fascination with the relationship between maternal deprivation and children's mental health from his early monograph Child Care and the Growth of Love (1953) through to his epic trilogy Attachment and Loss (1969, 1973, 1980). It illustrates the continuing influence of attachment theory in the bereavement field by examining contemporary research on the relationship between attachment styles, forms of complicated grieving and ways of coping with loss. Suggestions for further integration of attachment theory into the bereavement research field are made.

The Attachment Behavioral System In Adulthood: Activation, Psychodynamics, And Interpersonal Processes

The purpose of this study was to determine the applicability of Bowlby's attachment theory in predicting male-to-female relationship violence. One-hundred-forty-nine heterosexual couples were interviewed regarding their childhood attachment experiences, current adult attachment status, stress level and current relationship history (including past violence). Results indicated that attachment factors were unique predictors of male violence toward a female intimate. Additionally, female partners of violent males were significantly more likely to have insecure adult attachment styles. The data provide some evidence for the role of attachment processes in explaining domestic violence. The findings underscore the importance of early determinants of intimate aggression, focusing on the basic attachment relationship.

Loss is an inevitable experience for humans for which grief is a natural response. Nurses must have an adequate understanding of grief and bereavement in order to be more sensitive to these painful emotions and to provide appropriate care to families who have lost someone they love deeply. This article introduces four important grief theories: Freud's grief theory, Bowlby's attachment theory, Stroebe and Schuts' dual process model, and Neiyemer's meaning reconstruction model. Freud's grief theory holds that the process of grief adaptation involves a bereaved family adopting alternative ways to connect with the death of a loved one and to restore their self-ego. Attachment theory holds that individuals who undergo grieving that is caused by separation from significant others and that triggers the process of grief adaptation will fail to adapt if they resist change. The dual process model holds that bereaved families undergo grief adaptation not only as a way to face their loss but also to restore normality in their lives. Finally, the meaning reconstruction model holds that the grief-adaptation strength of bereaved families comes from their meaning reconstruction in response to encountered events. It is hoped that these theories offer nurses different perspectives on the grieving process and provide a practical framework for grief assessment and interventions. Additionally, specific interventions that are based on these four grief theories are recommended. Furthermore, theories of grief may help nurses gain insight into their own practice-related reactions and healing processes, which is an important part of caring for the grieving. Although the grieving process is time consuming, nurses who better understand grief will be better able to help family members prepare in advance for the death of a loved one and, in doing so, help facilitate their healing, with a view to the future and to finally returning to normal daily life.

Associations of working models of the self and other with Cloninger's personality dimensions

Using the Attachment History Questionnaire (AHQ), 30 female anorectic and bulimic inpatients were compared to a control group of 31 primarily female social work students to determine the connection between anorexia and bulimia and early childhood attachment relationships. As predicted, the results indicated that the anorectics and bulimics differed significantly from the controls on all four subfactors of the AHQ: secure attachment base (Factor 1), parental discipline (Factor 2), threats of separation (Factor 3), and peer affectional support (Factor 4). Post hoc comparisons between the eating-disordered group and the controls on the fifty-one individual items of the AHQ showed that within Factor 1, the items involving feelings of being unwanted, alone, helpless, and of shame and guilt, clearly and significantly discriminated between groups. Within Factor 3, the item addressing the child feeling responsible for parental happiness produced significance. The results of this study are interpreted in relation to John Bowlby's attachment theory and the clinical implications are discussed.