Introductory Paragraph
Although the attachment theory was initially developed in terms of children and their caregivers, in recent decades, it covered the functioning and development of romantic relationships.
Support for Thesis 1
- Topic Sentence: there are many critiques of the attachment theory and its assessment criteria (Fitzgerald, 2020). Nevertheless, it remains a reliable and valid construct explaining romantic relationships.
- Detail A: clinicians do not notably support the attachment theory approach and assessment methods. Simultaneously, they accept the general statement that the infants vulnerability to different psychological disorders in their adult life is directly affected by the quality of their emotional experiences, particularly with their childhood caretakers.
- Detail B: there is still a severe limitation in terms of attachment theory. Specifically, it fails to recognize and take into account the influences of gender, social class, culture, and ethnicity on personal development. These factors do not depend on a mothers sensitivity, remaining not less significant than the early attachments quality.
- Detail C: as an individual develops, he or she gains a mental record of success at obtaining sufficient comfort and proximity from the attachment objects. The last cover caregivers and/or parents, romantic partners, and close friends.
Support for Thesis 2
- Topic Sentence: the orientations of adult romantic attachment are grounded by two broad dimensions: avoidance and anxiety (Simpson & Rholes, 2017).
- Detail A: the first is avoidance reflecting the degree to which people are comfortable with emotional intimacy and closeness in relationships. It is noteworthy that highly avoidant individuals are usually positive through brittle self-appraisals and the negative views of their romantic partners.
- Detail B: the second dimension is anxiety, assessing to which degree people are worried about the perspectives of being abandoned or underappreciated by the romantic partners. If an individual is highly anxious, he or she is deeply invested in the relationships willing to be closest possible to a partner and feel more secure.
- Detail C: in turn, attachment insecurity is able to generate maladaptive responses to specific threatening or stressful events, depending on individual attachment orientation.
Support for Thesis 3
- Topic Sentence: the modern studies of close relationships are profoundly influenced by the statement that romantic relationships are likely to be attachment relationships (Fraley, n.d.).
- Detail A: in case romantic relationships are the same as attachment ones, the individual differences in them should be observed by analogy with those in caregiver-infant relationships.
- Detail B: if a romantic relationship is an attachment one, the adult relationships peculiarities and functioning should be the same as those of caregiver-infant ones. In other words, exploration in children is facilitated by the same factors as an exploration between adults (for instance, the analogy responsive partner – responsive caregiver).
- Detail C: whether an infant is insecure or secure with his or her initial caregivers might significantly influence the same feelings in further adult relationships. Working models or mental representations regarding links such as rules and beliefs that guide thinking and behaving held by a child are a function or caregiving experience.
Conclusion
Thesis Sentence (restated in different words): the studies of adult attachment and romantic relationships are primarily based on the assumption that the motivational system giving rise to close emotional connection between children and their parents is responsible for the link developed between adults in their intimate relationships.
References
Fitzgerald, M. (2020). Criticism of attachment theory, 2020. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.24012.77445.
Fraley, C. R. (n.d.). Adult attachment theory and research.
Simpson, J. F., & Rholes, S. W. (2017). Adult attachment, stress, and romantic relationships. Curr Opin Psychol.,13, 19–24. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2016.04.006.