Attachment The Fundamental Questions

The ongoing growth of attachment research has given rise to new perspectives on classic theoretical questions as well as fruitful new debates. This unique book identifies nine central questions facing the field and invites leading authorities to address them in 46 succinct chapters. Multiple perspectives are presented on what constitutes an attachment relationship, the best ways to measure attachment security, how internal working models operate, the importance of early attachment relationships for later behavior, challenges in cross-cultural research, how attachment-based interventions work, and more. The concluding chapter by the editors delineates points of convergence and divergence among the contributions and distills important implications for future theory and research.

Ross A. Thompson, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Davis, where he directs the Social and Emotional Development Lab. Dr. Thompson studies the development of positive social motivation in young children, with a focus on the influence of early relationships. He also writes on the applications of developmental science to practice and policy related to children in poverty, early childhood mental health, and early education. He is an associate editor of Child Development, past president of Zero to Three, and a recipient of the Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society from Division 7 of the American Psychological Association.
 
Jeffry A. Simpson, PhD, is Distinguished University Teaching Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota, where he directs the Doctoral Minor in Interpersonal Relationships. Dr. Simpson’s research interests center on adult attachment processes, trust, human mating, social influence, and how early developmental experiences are related to adult health, relationship functioning, and parenting outcomes. He is a past editor of Personal Relationships and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes, and has served as president of the International Association for Relationship Research.
 
Lisa J. Berlin, PhD, is Professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work. Dr. Berlin’s multidisciplinary research program cuts across human development, psychology, social work, and public health. Her studies address early child–parent attachment as well as programs and policies for families with young children, including Early Head Start, child care, and home visiting. She is especially interested in the extent to which attachment-based interventions can improve publicly funded programs designed to support early parenting and child development. Dr. Berlin has been a Zero to Three fellow and in 2019 was named among the 100 most influential contemporary social work faculty.
 
 

1. Attachment Theory in the Twenty-First Century: Introduction to the Volume, Ross A. Thompson, Jeffry A. Simpson, & Lisa J. Berlin
- TOPIC 1: Defining Attachment and Attachment Security
2. Attachment as a Relationship Construct, L. Alan Sroufe
3. What Kinds of Relationships Count as Attachment Relationships?, R. Pasco Fearon & Carlo Schuengel
4. Attachment to Child Care Providers, Lieselotte Ahnert
5. Defining Attachment Relationships and Attachment Security from a Personality–Social Perspective on Adult Attachment, Phillip R. Shaver & Mario Mikulincer
6. The Nature and Developmental Origins of Attachment Security in Adulthood, Deborah Jacobvitz & Nancy Hazen
7. Casting a Wider Net: Parents, Pair Bonds, and Other Attachment Partners in Adulthood, Ashleigh I. Aviles & Debra Zeifman
- TOPIC 2: Measuring the Security of Attachment
8. Categorical Assessments of Attachment: On the Ontological Relevance of Group Membership, Howard Steele & Miriam Steele
9. Categorical or Dimensional Measures of Attachment?: Insights from Factor Analytic and Taxometric Research, K. Lee Raby, R. Chris Fraley, & Glenn I. Roisman
10. Representational Measures of Attachment: A Secure Base Script Perspective, Theodore Waters
11. Measuring the Security of Attachment in Adults: Narrative Assessments and Self-Report Questionnaires, Judith A. Crowell
12. Priming Approaches, Omri Gillath & Ting Ai
- TOPIC 3: The Nature and Function of Internal Working Models
13. In the Service of Protection from Threat: Attachment and Internal Working Models, Jude Cassidy
14. From Internal Working Models to Script-Like Attachment Representations, Harriet S. Waters, Theodore E. A. Waters, & Everett Waters
15. Parental Insightfulness and Parent–Child Emotion Dialogues: Shaping Children's Internal Working Models, David Oppenheim & Nina Koren-Karie
16. Internal Working Models as Developing Representations, Ross A. Thompson
17. A Functional Account of Multiple Internal Working Models: Flexibility in Ranking, Structure and Content across Contexts and Time, Yuthika U. Girme & Nickola C. Overall
- TOPIC 4: Stability and Change in the Security of Attachment
18. The Consistency of Attachment Security across Time and Relationships, R. Chris Fraley & Keely A. Dugan
19. Stability and Change in Attachment Security, Cathryn Booth-LaForce & Glenn I. Roisman
20. Beyond Stability: Toward Understanding the Development of Attachment beyond Childhood, Joseph Allen
21. Stability and Change in Adult Romantic Relationship Attachment Styles, Ramona L. Paetzold, W. Steven Rholes, & Tiffany George
22. Change in Adult Attachment Insecurity from an Interdependence Theory Perspective, Ximena B. Arriaga & Madoka Kumashiro
- TOPIC 5: The Continuing Influence of Early Attachment    
23. The Legacy of Early Attachments: Past, Present, Future, Glenn I. Roisman & Ashley M. Groh
24. Attachment Security and Disorganization: Etched on the Brain?, Marinus H. van IJzendoorn, Anne Tharner, & Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg
25. Early Attachment and Later Physical Health, Katie B. Ehrlich & Jude Cassidy
26. The Continuing Influence of Early Attachment Orientations Viewed from a Personality–Social Perspective on Adult Attachment, Mario Mikulincer & Philip R. Shaver
27. Early Attachment from the Perspective of Life History Theory, Ohad Szepsenwol & Jeffry A. Simpson
- TOPIC 6: Culture and Attachment
28. Attachment Theory: Fact or Fancy?, Heidi Keller
29. Pluralities and Commonalities in Children's Relationships: Care of Efe Forager Infants as a Case Study, Gilda Morelli & Linxi Lu
30. Attachment Theory's Universality Claims: Asking Different Questions, Judi Mesman
31. Attachment in the Context of Human Adaptation, James Chisholm
- TOPIC 7: Separation and Loss
32. Losing a Parent in Early Childhood: The Impact of Disrupted Attachment, Ann Chu & Alicia F. Lieberman
33. Attachment, Loss, and Grief Viewed from a Personality–Social Perspective on Adult Attachment, Philip R. Shaver & Mario Mikulincer
34. The Psychological and Biological Correlates of Separation and Loss, David A. Sbarra & Antina Manvelian
35. Breaking the Marital Ties That Bind: Divorce from a Spousal Attachment Figure, Brooke C. Feeney & Joan K. Moin
36. Normal and Pathological Mourning: Attachment Processes in the Development of Prolonged Grief, Fiona Maccallum
- TOPIC 8: Attachment-Based interventions
37. Attachment-Based Interventions to Promote Secure Attachment in Children, Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg & Mirjam Oosterman
38. Mechanisms of Attachment-Based Intervention Effects on Child Outcomes, Mary Dozier & Kristin Bernard
39. Attachment-Based Intervention Processes in Disordered Parent–Child Relationships, Sheree L. Toth, Michelle E. Alto, & Jennifer Warmingham
40. Therapeutic Mechanisms in Attachment-Informed Psychotherapy with Adults, Alessandro Talia & Jeremy Holmes
41. Attachment Principles as a Guide to Therapeutic Change: The Example of Emotionally Focused Therapy, Susan M. Johnson
- TOPIC 9: Attachment, Systems, and Services  
42. Attachment and Child Care, Margaret Tresch Owen & Cynthia A. Frosch
43. Attachment and Early Childhood Education Systems in the United States, Bridget K. Hamre & Amanda P. Williford
44. An Attachment Theory Approach to Parental Separation, Divorce, and Child Custody, Michael E. Lamb
45. Attachment and Child Protective Systems, Jody Todd Manly, Anna Smith, Sheree L. Toth, & Dante Cicchetti
46. Attachment and Foster Care, Charles H. Zeanah & Mary Dozier
47. Attachment and Early Home Visiting: Toward a More Perfect Union, Lisa J. Berlin, Allison West, & Brenda Jones Harden
48. Concluding Commentary: Assembling the Puzzle--Interlocking Pieces, Missing Pieces, and the Emerging Picture, Ross A. Thompson, Lisa J. Berlin, & Jeffry A. Simpson
Author Index
Subject Index