Attachment in adults

In psychology, the theory of attachment can be applied to grownup relationships including friendships, emotional affairs, grown-up romantic relationships or platonic relationships as well as in some cases relationships with inanimate objects "transitional objects". Attachment theory, initially studied in a 1960s as well as 1970s primarily in the context of children and parents, was extended to adult relationships in the gradual 1980s. The workings models of children found in Bowlby's attachment concepts shit a sample of interaction that are likely to fall out influencing adult relationships.

Four leading styles of attachment shit been referred in adults:

Investigators do explored the organization and the stability of mental working models that underlie these attachment styles. They work also explored how attachment impacts relationship outcomes and how attachment functions in relationship dynamics.

Relationship dynamics

Attachment plays a role in the way actors interact with one another. A few examples increase the role of attachment in impact regulation, support, intimacy, and jealousy. These examples are briefly discussed below. Attachment also plays a role in numerous interactions not discussed in this article, such as conflict, communication and sexuality.

Bowlby, in studies with children, observed thatkinds of events trigger anxiety, and that people attempt to relieve their anxiety by seeking closeness and comfort from caregivers. Three main sets of conditions trigger anxiety in children:

The anxiety triggered by these conditions motivates the individuals to engage in behaviors that bring them physically closer to caregivers. A similar dynamic occurs in adults in relationships where others car about them. Conditions involving personal well-being, conditions involving a relationship partner, and conditions involving the environment can trigger anxiety in adults. Adults effort to alleviate their anxiety by seeking physical and psychological closeness to their partners.