The Development of Child Attachment

Introduction

The development of attachments is central to the growing childs psychological health and the ability to form meaningful relationships in the future. Studying how children develop basic trust provides insight into impulse management and managing young learners refusal to explore the world. Attachments to mothers and fathers are dissimilar due to gender roles in parenting and may also depend on the childs temperament, especially in the expressivity dimension.

Differences in Attachment to Mother/Father

In a traditional family, mothers and fathers play diverse roles in terms of the support they offer to the child, which creates differences in attachment. First, attachment to the mother is closely interconnected with the young learners ability to express and comprehend emotions, whereas child-father attachments often foster self-regulation or coping skills (Feldman, 2018). Second, in multiple observational studies, infants show a preference for being soothed by mothers rather than fathers when they encounter any unusual stressors (Feldman, 2018). Thus, another crucial dissimilarity between the sexes in terms of attachment is that the mother is more commonly regarded as a source of reassurance in case of prominent emotional pain.

Reasons for Differences and How They Affect the Relationship to the Parents

There are two reasons for the aforementioned differences; first, they occur due to parents unequal contributions to nurturing and play. Mothers tend to invest most of their time in direct care, and fathers are more actively engaged in play (Feldman, 2018). Based on time use research in diverse cultures, working mothers are more likely than their male spouses to devote at least three hours to direct care on a daily basis (Feldman, 2018). Second, attachment-related dissimilarities stem from parental sex-specific preferences peculiar to playtime. In Paquette et al.s study completed in 2003, mothers have been shown to emphasize games linked to verbal and emotional exchange (Feldman, 2018). Fathers, on the contrary, give the pride of place to mock fighting and physical activities (Feldman, 2018). It can affect the childs relationship with the parents by making the child treat the mother and the father as a source of emotional stability and a role model in terms of coping skills, respectively. Regarding the examples, the child might refuse to discuss his/her unpleasant emotions with the father or avoid relying on the mothers advice when it comes to self-defense and interpersonal conflict.

Childs Temperament, Attachment, and Caregivers Behaviors

The childs temperament, especially the emotional expressivity component, can affect attachment positively and negatively. Children who are very passive in terms of showcasing their emotional reactions do not give enough non-verbal clues to their caregivers. It reduces caregivers effectiveness in building trust and supporting young learners in developing more secure attachments (Feldman, 2018). Conversely, more expressive children reveal their needs and fears constantly and explicitly, enabling caregivers to respond quickly and promote optimal attachment by making the child see that his/her reactions are acknowledged and appreciated. Temperamental differences and their attachment-related effects have an enormous impact on the caregivers behaviors, urging the latter to demonstrate extreme sensitivity to the slightest emotional changes in non-expressive children and observe their reactions closely. With more extroverted infants that display a lot of non-verbal information, such adaptations are not needed as clues tend to be easily discernible.

Conclusion

To sum up, child-caregiver relationships are predicted by temperamental characteristics and gender differences in parenting behaviors. Attachments to fathers and mothers are diverse in terms of their roles in coping and getting emotional support, which stems from parents playtime preferences and unequal engagement in nurturing. The childs temperament influences attachment by facilitating or hindering the caregivers ability to provide accurate responses to the kids needs.