Introduction
Childhood attachment can be the result of severe psychological impairments in adulthood, and parenting aspects are largely those factors that stimulate specific disorders. According to Corcoran and McNulty (2018), parental neglect is a driver of emotional development difficulties in children, and the lack of attention is fraught with anxiety, depression, and other psychological problems in the future. This problem is of high importance due to the likelihood of disorders in those adults who experienced abuse, neglect, or excessive attachment in childhood. Corcoran and McNulty (2018) state that attachment has a significant impact on the formation of behavioral habits and is a direct factor associated with adults’ psychological distress. There are numerous academic studies on this topic, but understanding the problem is an essential aspect not only from a scholarly but also from a parental perspective. The analysis of relevant literature will be carried out, and the key prerequisites and consequences of adult anxiety will be considered through the prism of childhood attachment and emotional neglect. The relationship between childhood emotional trauma and the lack of attention will be analyzed in the context of the manifestations of psychological disorders in adulthood.
Literature Review
The analysis of academic literature on the proposed topic makes it possible to find unique ideas regarding the issue in question and draw conclusions about the key premises and manifestations of the problem. Simard, Moss, and Pascuzzo (2011) examine attachment styles and assess the potential causes of psychological disorders. The 15-year study follows the four
attachment styles and determines reflective adult anxiety propensity (Simard et al., 2011). The authors use a group sample to determine how individual maladaptive patterns affect specific attachment patterns in children and adults (Simard et al., 2011). This approach provides detailed data on which drivers have the greatest impact on personal distress and which maladaptive aspects determine anxiety and other disorders in adulthood. The results of the study show that if a child experienced unmet needs, in the future, there is a high probability that his or her emotional perception will be disturbed (Simard et al., 2011). This outcome confirms the idea of the importance of parental involvement in children’s lives and will be considered in the research paper.
Another study conducted by Intrieri and Margentina (2019) aims to describe the relationship between attachment in childhood and anxiety in adulthood. The authors assume that the role of anxiety seems to be determined by the type of attachment developed during childhood (Intrieri & Margentina, 2019). This argument is based on the application of the model of four categories determining the degree of attachment. The negative perception of the environment, which is formed in childhood, leaves an imprint on adulthood, and may be expressed in anxiety, panic symptoms, and depressive conditions. As Intrieri and Margentina (2019) argue, attachment features are not always the key drivers for the development of psychological disorders, but such parental gaps as neglect and emotional distance are stimuli for anxiety in adulthood. As a result, adults’ responsibility is viewed as a crucial aspect of a child’s psychophysical development and social adaptation, and this nuance will be considered in the proposed research.
Individual scholarly studies are devoted to assessing child attachment from the positive and negative sides. For instance, Rees (2007) analyzes this phenomenon in the context of healthy and unhealthy implications and notes a positive relationship between attachment and early childhood emotional regulation. However, as he or she grows up, a child adapts to society and should show more independence. Rees (2007) calls behavior unhealthy if children cannot overcome the boundaries of attachment and argues that a sharp violation of usual communication principles is fraught with stress and anxiety in older age. Schimmenti and Bifulco (2015) also assess psychological disorders caused by negative childhood experiences, but they focus on the lack of parental care as the reason for impairments. The authors note that antipathy and emotional neglect are dangerous factors that are fraught with the deviant perception of the environment in adulthood (Schimmenti & Bifulco, 2015). Thus, all the aforementioned researchers agree that negative parenting patterns and excessive attachment are drivers for the development of psychological disorders and anxiety.
Proposed Research Question and Hypothesis
To conduct credible and unbiased research, the relevant question will be posed as a background to work. It will be as follows: are excessive childhood attachment and the lack of parental care prerequisites for the development of anxiety and other psychological disorders in adulthood? As independent variables, the indicators of healthy and unhealthy attachment will be used, as well as the parameters of emotional neglect. Adult anxiety will be a dependent variable, and as additional criteria, psychological disorders can be assessed, for instance, stress and depression. Attachment indicators will be examined by comparing the information from the selected sample based on the data obtained through surveys of the target audience. To test the key dependent variable, digital correlations will be applied to identify specific implications in a statistical ratio. The research hypothesis will be as follows: excessive childhood attachment and parents’ emotional neglect are prerequisites for adult anxiety and psychological disorders, including stress and depression.
Methods
Participants
This research sample will include 20 randomly selected psychology students who have experienced unhealthy attachment in their childhood, and the mean age will approximately be 19.5 years. There will be 11 (55%) female and 9 (45%) male participants. 60% of the sample will be represented by white Americans, while the remaining 40% will include minorities, including African Americans, Native Americans, Asians, and Hispanics. There is significant reasoning behind choosing these individuals as the research participants. On the one hand, psychology students are suitable because they better understand their own feelings and emotions. Such individuals are not older, meaning that their childhood memories are fresh and not forgotten. On the other hand, the sample diversity is justified because it reflects that of the United States of America. This condition is essential to make sure that the research results can be applied to the whole society.
The participants are made up of volunteers who will express their desire to become a part of the given study, hence these individuals will not get any compensation for participation. This fact will only attract those people who are interested in the research question and will not make conducting the study expensive. It is also reasonable to provide the participants with anonymity guarantees, which will attract more people. This is helpful because they will not be afraid that their personal information will be disclosed to the general public. Since the research aim is to identify whether unhealthy childhood attachment leads to adult anxiety, the study participants will not get any experimental treatment. Thus, this information means that a control group is not necessary for this study design.
Materials
Standardized interview measures will take place to make sure that the participants present reliable information concerning their age and demographic characteristics. These details are of significance because it is necessary to preserve gender and ethnic diversity of the United States society within the study sample. As for the research aim and hypothesis, a specific questionnaire will be used to determine whether unhealthy childhood attachment is a prerequisite for adult anxiety. I will not use any previously established scales, instruments, or surveys. A questionnaire that will be designed specifically for the given study will be used to ensure that the participants’ information will be sufficient to either prove or confute the research hypothesis.
Procedure
The given research study will consist of two essential stages. A preliminary phase will include the interviews described above to extract the participants’ personal information. These interview measures will take place in the research office. Thus, the participants will need to attend this office to participate in the survey. The following step will describe anonymity procedures to assure the participants that their privacy and confidentiality will be protected. In addition to that, these measures will contribute to the fact that a researcher bias will not impact the research results.
The main research phase will be to have the participants fill in the questionnaires. The individuals will answer the questions separately to exclude any possibility that they will influence one another’s results. Furthermore, they will not be limited in time to place them in a comfortable environment. Their answers will be coded to meet the confidentiality requirements that have been described above. In addition to that, it will be necessary to ensure that data analysis will be unbiased. Janak (2018) explains that some researchers can arrive at prejudiced conclusions, and it usually happens when scientists see authors of the responses under investigation. Thus, I will analyze the answers that will not contain any personal details of the sample members. Once the answers are obtained, it will be necessary to choose the proper statistical test to analyze the information.
Statistical Test
I am going to conduct a survey to identify whether there is any correlation between unhealthy childhood attachment and adult anxiety. For this purpose, I will include two multiple choice questions in the questionnaire. They will be “Did you regularly experience attachment in your childhood?” and “Do you experience anxiety on a daily basis?” A parametric test is necessary to identify any statistical relationship between the two questions because they imply numerical data. To find it, I will calculate the mean and standard deviation of Childhood Attachment (X) and Adult Anxiety (Y). A Pearson’s correlation coefficient will be suitable in this case since it is “typically used for jointly normally distributed data” (Schober et al., 2018, p. 1763). This coefficient is also one of the most frequently used statistics that reveal a positive or negative relationship between two variables (Armstrong, 2019). Consequently, many factors demonstrate that a Pearson’s correlation coefficient will be a suitable option for the given survey.
Data Analysis
The Statistical Test section has demonstrated that this research study will significantly rely on numerical data and the relationship between them. That is why the given study will be a quantitative one that uses objective and synthesized information of the sample to obtain a general
view of the whole population (Queirós et al., 2017). This study type is useful because its results are reliable and can be applied to more numerous community parts. In other words, it is challenging to argue against facts and numerical data. It is also necessary to comment on what types of variables the survey will use. On the one hand, unhealthy childhood attachment will be an independent variable since this condition will present for all the sample members. On the other hand, a dependent variable will relate to adult anxiety because the study wants to identify the presence of this phenomenon in the people who have experienced unhealthy attachment in their childhood.
A Pearson’s correlation coefficient is a relatively simple statistical method for the interpretation of its results. Since it focuses on the relationship between two variables, its linear representation demonstrates whether one of them depends on the other. In addition to the fact that the given statistical test reflects this correlation, if any, it also indicates its volume. In this case, it is also reasonable to mention that additional statistical tests, both descriptive and inferential, are necessary to draw conclusions and test the hypothesis. A proportion is a descriptive statistical test that will demonstrate how many people from the sample are subject to adult anxiety if they have experienced unhealthy childhood attachment. However, when it comes to testing the research hypothesis, it is necessary to apply an inferential statistical test to identify the parameter’s effect on the whole population. A confidence interval will be suitable here because it will include two borderline values, and the real proportion of people who suffer from adult anxiety because of unhealthy childhood attachment will be between them.
Implications
The implication of the research is manifested in the fact that it is specific. It primarily addresses one’s anxiety in adulthood and childhood attachment, and thus, the discipline itself will acquire new data on the correlational basis of the given two variables. The findings will inevitably pinpoint whether childhood parenting is a major contributing factor in the development of anxiety in adulthood. If the will be a strong correlation, this will set new directions for future researches. A similar principle can be applied to investigating the unresolved issue of depression and other disorders, such as obsessive compulsive disorder.
Therefore, the problem matters because childhood parenting factors occur during the most critical period, and parents directly shape a child’s psychological development. By understanding the strength of influence of such past occurrences in one’s adulthood and his or her mental health, it will be possible to take preliminary measures, such as prevention through raising awareness and parental education. The state of anxiety in children, as in adults, can manifest itself at the somatic and behavioral level. Intrinsic somatic correlates of stress are features such as rapid heart rate, shallow breathing, dry mouth, a lump in the throat, and tickling in various places. If the state of anxiety recurs and the person does not find a way to cope with himself, these internal manifestations can develop into symptoms of somatic disorders.
The data available to date indicate that the role of heredity in the occurrence of childhood anxiety is small. Much more significant is the background of relationships that surrounds the child in the first months of her life. The impressions of the first year of life play a huge role in the formation of the child’s emotional world. The main reason for the occurrence of childhood anxiety can be a negative attitude towards the child and parental attachment. Not an open disregard for the interests of a child, but an unstable, insecure love can also generate an internal conflict in him that manifests itself in adulthood. This is possible because the child feels opposite forces in himself, one of which pulls him towards his parents, and the other pushes him away from them. He or she feels parental love, but at the same time and is constantly afraid of losing this love, does not believe in its reliability. Thus, most often, the cause of anxiety can be the child’s internal conflict, which turns into an anxiety disorder in adulthood.
Limitations
The key limitation is the fact that a truly random selection of participants will not be possible, where only psychology students of specific age groups are chosen. In addition, the sample size is small for conducting precise statistical data analysis. Therefore, the sample will not directly represent the general population due to the presence of common factors. However, it can still be helpful in finding relevant correlations between the key elements and set the direction for a wider research attempt that uses a larger sample size with correct, fully randomized settings. In the case of validity interrogations, some validities might require prioritization over others. The main reason is that each particular element of the interview questions will not have a similar weight to the outcome of the study. In addition, the two selected items used for Pearson’s correlational coefficient are prioritized the most due to their numeric value provided for the data analysis. Therefore, the interrogations of validity will be accounted for by means of preferential question priorities.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the research will investigate the correlational relationship between one’s anxiety issues in adulthood and childhood attachment or improper parental care. An interview, which is based on a thoroughly assessing questionnaire, will be conducted on 20 psychology students. The latter stage will be followed up by an unbiased assessment of the result, and the identities of the participants will not be revealed. Pearson’s correlation coefficient will be used in establishing the correlational basis between one’s anxiety and childhood attachment. These two factors will be critical in deriving numerical values from the questions. The given coefficient data analysis technique is selected due to its overall reliability and simplicity. Therefore, there will be no possibility for miscalculated and misappropriate results. It also allows the study to derive reliable data, one which the finding and conclusion can be built without additional support.
The implication can range from a mere contribution to the discipline to setting new research directions regarding one’s adulthood anxiety and childhood attachment. The family is one of the most important educational institutions, the role and significance of which in the formation of a person’s personality and mental disorders need to be studied. Lack of communication with parents, lack of tactile and emotionally rich contacts, or parental attachment can cause the early formation of negative personality formations. The latter can take the form of fears, neurotic complexes, anxieties, psychological defenses, and communication barriers. All this cannot but influence in a negative way the character of the entire further life path of a person. The role of dysfunction in family communication in the emergence of situational anxiety and the formation of anxiety as a stable personality characteristic can be a key component in many other problems.
References
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Corcoran, M., & McNulty, M. (2018). Examining the role of attachment in the relationship between childhood adversity, psychological distress and subjective well-being. Child Abuse & Neglect, 76, 297-309.
Intrieri, R. C., & Margentina, S. J. (2019). Attachment and its relationship to anxiety sensitivity. Current Psychology, 38(1), 213-227.
Janak, E. (2018). Bracketing and bridling: Using narrative reflexivity to confront researcher bias and the impact of social identity in a historical study. Philanthropy & Education, 1(2), 82-93.
Queirós, A., Faria, D., & Almeida, F. (2017). Strengths and limitations of qualitative and quantitative research methods. European Journal of Education Studies, 3(9), 369-387.
Rees, C. (2007). Childhood attachment. British Journal of General Practice, 57(544), 920-922. Web.
Schimmenti, A., & Bifulco, A. (2015). Linking lack of care in childhood to anxiety disorders in emerging adulthood: The role of attachment styles. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 20(1), 41-48.
Schober, P., Boer, C., & Schwarte, L. A. (2018). Correlation coefficients: Appropriate use and interpretation. Anesthesia & Analgesia, 126(5), 1763-1768(6).
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