1. Year 13: PSYA3: Relationships
THE INFLUENCE OF CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENT EXPERIENCES ON ADULT RELATIONSHIPS
Year 13: PSYA3: Relationships

2. LESSON OBJECTIVE
To be able to describe and evaluate whether childhood affects adult relationships
VNA

3. Check the spec- effects of early experiences on later relationships culture Focus Q: ‘Using your key terms explain the importance of early childhood relationships on adult relationships’

4. Key theories: Influences of childhood on romantic relationships
Theories of relationship breakdown
Key theories: Influences of childhood on romantic relationships
Theories from the books:
Attachment theory (continuity hypothesis)
Learning theory
Other possible theory:
Facial imprinting theories

5. Attachment theory- recap
Ensure you can describe ...
Bolwby’s attachment theory
Key part:
Continuity hypothesis
Ensure you can describe...
Ainsworth’s attachment types
Key parts:
Securely attached
Insecure avoidant
Insecure ambivalent
Mother’s sensitivity

6. Attachment with parents Relationship with peers
Attachment theory
Attachment with parents
Relationship with peers
Later romantic
relationships
Attachments are an instinctive thing that are formed to help survival.
The first attachment we form is to our parents and will depend on how sensitive the mothers care is (Ainsworth).
The attachment type you develop in childhood (secure/insecure) will continue into later relationships (continuity hypothesis).

7. Parent-child relationships (AO1)
Shaver et al (1988) claimed that what we experience as romantic love in adulthood is an integration of 3 behavioural systems acquired in infancy – attachment, care giving and sexuality systems. (See text book))
The 1st system, attachment is related to the concept of the internal working model covered at AS
According to Bowlby (1969) later relationships are likely to be a continuation of early attachment styles (secure and insecure) because the behaviour of the infant’s primary attachment figure promotes an internal working model of relationships which leads the infant to expect the same in later relationships.

8. Supporting Evidence comes from:
Simpson et al (2007)
Longitudinal study 25 years+ 78 participants.
1 year- parents reported on attachment behaviours
6-8 years- teachers rated peer interactions
16 years- asked to describe their close friendships
Adulthood- romantic partners asked to describe their experiences
Findings
Securely attached infants had higher levels of social competence as children at all stages.
The closer they were to their friends at 16 years correlated positively with how expressive and emotionally attached to romantic partners they were.

9. Commentary on parental relationships
However, one key question concerns the stability of attachment types.
It could be that an individual’s attachment type is determined by their current relationship, which is why happily married couples are secure. Attachment theory does suggest that significant relationship experiences may alter attachment organisation.
Kirkpatrick and Hazan (1994) found that relationship break- ups were associated with a shift from secure to insecure attachment
The relationship between attachment style and later adult relationships has been investigated in a number of other studies.
Fraley (1998) conducted a meta-analysis of studies, finding correlations from to 0.50 between early attachment type and later relationships. He suggested that one reason for low correlations may be because insecure-anxious attachment is more unstable.

10. Interaction with peers
Qualter and Munn (2005) have shown that children also learn from their experiences with other children.
The way that a child thinks about himself and others is determined at least in part by specific experiences, which then become internalised.
As a result, children may develop a sense of their own value as a result of interactions with others, which in turn determines how they approach adult relationships.

11. Nangle (2003)
Says that children’s friendships are training grounds for important adult relationships. Close friendships are characterised by affection, a sense of alliance and intimacy, and the sharing of secrets and personal information. The experience of having a friend to confide in promotes feelings of trust, acceptance and a sense of being understood.

12. Gender differences in childhood relationships have been found in a number of studies.
Richard & Schneider (2005) found that girls have more intimate friendships than boys and are more likely to report care and security in their relationships with other girls.

13. Erwin, (1993) found that boys relationships tend to be more competitive, a fact attributed to the greater emphasis on competitive play activities.
In contrast, girls are more likely to engage in co-operative and sharing activities.
However, Erwin claims that sex differences in the experience of childhood relationships have been over-emphasised, that many similarities tend to be overlooked

14. The influence of adolescent experiences on adult relationships

15. Adolescence = critical!
Adolescence is a critical period in development, marked by the increased importance of close friendships and the emergence of adult relationships.
During adolescence, close friends surpass parents as the primary source of social support, and contribute to adolescents’ self-concept and well-being.
By age 16, most adolescents have experienced a romantic relationship (Carver et al, 2003)
Social learning theory suggests adolescents learn from their parents through modelling

16. Allen and Land (1999) suggest that adolescent relationships are based on an internal model of relationships formed from their own parent-child relationships plus their experiences in current relationships.
Adolescents thus acquire relationship experience, with each relationship affecting the current relationship.

17. During this important phase
Friendships become deeper
Adolescents have 2x as many friends as family members
These friendships help to establish autonomy, independence and more intimate relationships

18. Blos (1967)
peers are a middle ground between family and intimate partner commitment; they help avoid feelings of loneliness without having to make commitments
Adolescents without peer relationships remain close to families & have difficulty with autonomy (Kirchler et al., 1993)

19. Commentary on parent-child relationships (AO2)
Larson (1996) used pagers to find out what year olds were doing at random times during the day. Although the amount of time spent with ‘family’ decreased sharply in early adolescence, the time spent with each parent individually was fairly consistent throughout, suggesting that adolescent relationships supplement rather than replace parent-child relationships.
Breaking free from parental control may be important in adolescent development, but recent research has indicated that autonomy is most healthy when accompanied by continuing warm and close relationships with parents.
This has been called ‘connectedness’ (Coleman & Hendry, 1999), and support for its importance was provided by>>>>>>>>>>>>

20. Interaction with peers (AO1)
In adolescence, attachment shifts from parents to peers. Romantic relationships in adolescence serve a number of purposes.
1st, they help to achieve the goal of separation from parents. Having shifted their attachment focus from parents to peers, adolescents can redirect intense interpersonal energy towards their romantic partner.
2nd, romantic relationships allow the adolescent to gain a type of emotional and physical intimacy that is quite different from that experienced with parents.
Madsen (2001) tested the effects of dating behaviour in adolescence ( ) on the quality of young adult relationships (20-21). She found that moderate or low dating frequency predicted higher-quality young adult relationships, whereas heavy dating predicted poorer quality young adult relationships.

21. Commentary
Although research suggests that romantic relationships in adolescence can be healthy for later adult relationships, it has also shown the potential for some negative effects. Haynie (2003) found that romantic relationships increased some forms of deviance in adolescents by as much as 35%, and Neeman (1995) found that romantic involvement in early to middle adolescence was associated with decreases in academic achievement and increases in conduct problems.
This suggests that the timing of romantic relationships in adolescence that determines what influence, if any, they will have.
Madsen’s finding about heavy dating was challenged by Roisman (2004) who found no effect of romantic experiences at age 20 on romantic relationships at age 30, suggesting that there is no consistent evidence that adolescent romantic relationships are the ‘building blocks’ of adult relationships.

22. Generic commentary
Restricted samples – in many studies there has been a reliance on small, highly selective samples of adolescents from 1 school or 1 city, usually in the USA. So, there may be problems with population validity, generalisability, ethnocentricity and so on..
Determinist explanation – research suggests that children who are insecurely attached at age one are doomed to experience emotionally unsatisfactory relationships. This is not the case as researchers found plenty of cases where participants were experiencing happy adult relationships despite not having been securely attached as infants.

23. Avoidant attachment? Or peer influence
Has she confused emotional and physical love?
Or is she following her peers?
Or are her parents her role models?

24. Social learning theory
Is an alternative to attachment theory
Parke (1988)
Suggests that the continuity between relationships with parents and ability to make friends is due to relationship skills learnt from parents via modelling (observation and imitation) NOT due to attachment styles.

25. Russell and Finnie (1990) Supporting evidence:
Observed Australian pre-school children in a new social environment.
They found:
‘Popular children’ were seen to have mothers who suggested strategies to help them interact
‘neglected children’ had mothers who encouraged them to play with toys but did not suggest ways to play with others.

26. If you had a good relationship with your dad...
Another theory is
‘Facial Imprinting theory’
If you had a good relationship with your dad...

27. ‘Facial imprinting’ theories
Boothroyd et al: Children who have a positive relationship with their mothers/ fathers will ‘imprint’ their parents’ face as a ‘model’ of what a good partner looks like.

28. ‘Facial imprinting’ theory AO2
Boothroyd (2007):
49 girls asked to rate faces attractive/not
Answered questions on their relationships with their father growing up
They analysed faces of the fathers from pictures the girls brought in and compared them to the faces the girls rated.
Found:
Girls who had a better
relationship with their father
growing up rated faces similar
to the fathers more attractive

29. Possible exam question
Discuss research into the influence of childhood on adult relationships (4+8)
The effect of childhood came up as an 8+16 last June !!