Attachment Theory and Close Relationships

Abstract

JEFFREY A. SIMPSON AND W STEVEN RHOLES, EDS.: Attachment Theory and Close Relationships. The Guilford Press, New York, 1998, 438 pp., $50.00, ISBN 1-57230-102-3. Attachment theory, as first espoused by John Bowlby, became a pervasive theoretical influence on clinicans and researchers working with children, parents, and families. The work of Mary Ainsworth introducing the methodology of the Strange Situation made it possible to observe parent-child dyads and assess the type of relationship. The categories of secure, insecure-avoidant, and insecure-anxious attachment, later extended to include disorganized attachment, were ways of describing different attachment patterns. According to Bowlby, attachment paradigms are encoded in internal working models, the theorized basis for developing attachment systems. Both Bowlby and Ainsworth assumed internal working models formed in early childhood persisted throughout life and continued to be vital into maturity, and beyond maturity into old age. The concept of internal working models was used to account for continuity in relationships and transmission of trauma between generations. Can the attachment model be extended meaningfully to adult relationships and development throughout a lifetime? The purpose of this intriguing and informative synthetic volume edited by Jeffrey Simpson and Steven Rholes is to orient us to important theoretical and empirical advances that have taken place in the area of adult attachment during the last decade. They distinguish two components within attachment theory. The first component is normative and attempts to explain stages of development through which nearly all human beings pass. A second component is focused on individual differences and attempts to explain stable deviations from modal behavioral patterns. Simpson and Rholes note the study of individual differences has dominated research for adults as well as children. The authors distinguish two traditions emanating from the study of individual differences. The first tradition, the nuclear family tradition, is exemplified by the work of Mary Main and her colleagues. They developed the Adult Attachment Interview to predict the Strange Situation behavior of respondents' children. The peer/romantic partner tradition, on the other hand, focuses on contemporary views and perceptions of current life partners. These studies utilize self-report questionnaires, accessing a more conscious domain of feelings. In this book, Simpson and Rholes focus almost exclusively on research and clinical work utilizing self-report measures. They recognize that the two traditions of research diverge not only in methodology, but also in generalizability of results. …