ABSTRACT
In the original formulation by John Bowlby (1958, 1969), attachment was proposed as a specific conceptualization of the influence of parents on their children’s development, that is an affective bond between parents and children that endured over space and time. In terms of historical considerations, by contrast with earlier psychoanalytic (Freud, 1938) and social learning notions of early parent-child relationships (Miller and Dollard, 1941), close emotional bonds or attachments between parents and children were held to promote positive development in infants and young children (see Ainsworth, 1969; Cummings and Cummings, 2002). Specifically, differences in the security of parent-child attachments were seen as having implications with regard to both parenting and children’s psychosocial development over time (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, and Wall, 1978; Bowlby, 1973), emphasizing the importance of early parent-infant relationships and the scientific value and significance of their study.
