If secured the child will receive ample attention and have basic needs met. However, if unsecured may result in an impaired social and emotional development (Peterson, 2004). In attempts to distinguish between the associated attachment behaviours observed in infant-caregiver interaction, Mary Ainsworth patented the strange situation test; subsequent findings resulted in three categories of infant attachment style; A: insecure avoidant, B: secure and C: insecure resistant (Ainsworth, et al. 1978). This model was later applied to adult romantic relationships and adapted to form theories of adult
Although peers may become a more important reference group in shaping adolescent behaviors numerous studies show that the parent-child relationship remains important for the psychosocial adjustment of young adolescents. Some have even suggested that early adolescence is the key period in which a trajectory is set for future behavior problems (Pettit, Bates, Dodge, & Meece, 1999). There is little doubt that the parent-child relationships have an exceedingly vital part in forming Erickson’s last 5 stages of development. There have been analyses that have explored the behavioral consistencies between parent-child relationships. The parent-child relationship has a deep impact on other relationships in adulthood.
American criminologist Travis Hirschi makes “attachment” (Walsh, 1991:108) the backbone of his control theory of delinquency. Attachment refers to the extent to which a person is psychologically and emotionally close to others delinquency (http://criminology.fsu.edu/crimtheory/hirschi.htm). Particularly, it is the attachment to one’s parents that determine the likelihood of delinquency in adolescence. The attachment embraced within the family serves as a basis for attachments to individuals and institutions that happen later in life. For example, the attached child behaves by giving respect, cooperates with others, and doing well in school to please those whose opinions matter
The pinnacle point of this essay will be to explore children’s experiences of family life and show what it is like for different types of families such as lone parents and step families. In addition, this essay will look at the ideas which shape the constructs of childhood in considering what role the family play in shaping a child’s experiences. Before childhood and the family at present can be examined, it is important to recognise when childhood was discovered and began. Before the 1600’s children were seen as miniature adults, and it is only through time and change of society that childhood has been recognised as a separate stage of life and development. The Aries thesis is studied as the discovery of childhood.
As these generations age, society changes as well as the family values. Adjustments are made to meet both individual and society needs. The three key processes in which children learn values and develop character should start with the forming of emotional attachments, teaching of pro-social behavior, and respect for authority; and abiding by the rules both within the family structure and society. The forming of emotional attachment should start at birth. First the infant bonds with its mother.
Research confirms that a secure identity fosters attainment of intimacy. 6Young people also focus on aspects of generativity, including parenting and contributions to society through work. Other Theories of Adult Psychosocial Development Describe and evaluate Levinson’s and Vaillant’s theories of adult personality development. Levinson described a series of eras, each consisting of a transition and a stable phase, in which people revise their life structure. Young adults usually construct a dream, typically involving career for men and both marriage and career for women, and form a relationship with a mentor to help them realize their dream.
Others are called mini theories; these on the other hand deals on a limited aspect of development for instance social and cognitive growth. A major theorist such Sigmund Freud outlined the various stages of development in children where growth transformations occur. He called it the psychosexual stages of development, which largely emphasized on the significance of childhood experiences and events. Freud’s stages included oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital stages. All the stages involve the fulfillment of libidinal desires that play significant roles in adulthood.
2.2 Parent-child Relationship Parent–child relationship quality is a measure of either the child or parent’s perception of the quality of their relationship (Crowl et al., 2008). The importance of the quality of parent-child relationship lies in the ability of children to form healthy and secure relationships. As young as the age of 2, children develop different attachment styles to their parents as demonstrated in Ainsworth’s experiment called Strange Situation (Kalat, 2015). Children with secure attachments tend to form trusting and stable relationships in the future while those with insecure attachments are mostly to develop into suspicious adults who lack trust in their relationships. As of present, the majority of literature has investigated
Thus the child acquires gender. The child may also form some kind of erotic attachment to the parent of the opposite sex. Whilst their understanding of the full sexual act may be questioned, some kind of primitive physical sensations are felt when they regard and think about the parent in question. Jealousies The primitive desire for the one parent may also awaken in the child a jealous motivation to exclude the other parent. Transferring of affections may also occur as the child seeks to become independent and escape a perceived 'engulfing mother'.
Developmental psychologists have long been interested in how parents impact child development. However, finding actual cause-and-effect links between specific actions of parents and later behavior of children is very difficult. Some children raised in dramatically different environments can later grow up to have remarkably similar personalities. Conversely, children who share a home and are raised in the same environment can grow up to have astonishingly different personalities than one another. Despite these challenges, researchers have uncovered convincing links between parenting styles and the effects these styles have on children.