Influence of early attachments on later relationships

Attachment and later relationships
The internal working model (Bowlby) suggests that a child bases their expectations of future relationships on their first attachment to their primary caregiver - it acts as a template for future relationships. The quality of a child's first attachment is crucial because this template could affect future relationships

Relationships in later childhood
Attachment type is associated with the quality of peer relationships in childhood.  Securely attached infants tend to have the best quality childhood friendships whereas insecurely attached infants tend to have friendship difficulties (Kerns 1994)

Bullying behaviour can be predicted by attachment type, as Myron-Wilson and Smith (1998) assessed attachment type and bullying involvement. They used questionnaires to assess 196 children, aged 7-11 from London. Secure children were very unlikely to be involved in bullying; insecure-avoidant children…