Attachment: Normal development, individual differences, and associations with experience

This chapter explains the development of the concept of child attachment, starting with the work of John Bowlby and others. It describes how Mary Ainsworth operationalised the concept with mother-infant pairs using the strange situation paradigm, then describes how it was further extended by Main and Solomon to add the disorganised attachment category. Evidence for the link with parenting styles such as sensitive responding is reviewed, followed by the link between secure attachment and various forms of psychopathology such as emotional and disruptive disorders. Recent work on the physiological substrate of attachment is described, followed by the development of interventions to promote secure attachments and the evidence for their effectiveness.