Child attachment: definition, functions and types

The childhood stage is wonderful. However, it involves many changes, since children have to internalize in a relatively short time everything that will prepare them for adult life.

This process of psychological evolution is not limited simply to technical aspects, such as learning to multiply or to construct correct sentences. A necessary factor for the proper development of the child is attachment.

What is attachment?

Regarding the first years of life, it is understood as attachment the most important emotional and behavioral bond in early childhood, in addition to the affective bond, that is, the feeling that unites the child with one or more people in the family system.

Attachment is established during the first three months. It gives rise to an internal model of affective relationships, that is, an unconscious representation that, being quite stable in the first year, can be modified by later experiences. Children will or will not trust certain things, people, etc.

It also serves as the basis for affective relationships, guiding the behavior of others and the way to address them.

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A basic need

Attachment it is also a universal and primary need. A pediatrician affirms that spoiling a child means raising it badly, that is, with little respect, little pampering, little affection, little hugs; It is impossible to raise him badly for paying a lot of attention to him, for playing with him a lot, for comforting him a lot when she cries or for holding him a lot in his arms.

The child needs a caregiver to become someone, to recognize himself as she is. This allows the baby's brain to develop just as she should, thanks to the social dynamics with which she begins to work.

Adverse attachment situations give rise to defensive mechanisms, a failure in the mentalizing and reflective function of the brain. Good treatment configures her evolution and the correct functionality of her brain. An unattached baby becomes emotionally disconnected.

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Child attachment functions

The functions that attachment performs during the first years of life are as follows.

1. Find and stay close

It is very important that the mother or anyone in the family be close to the child to know what she feels.

2. Resisting separation and protesting if it occurs

The child, especially if he is very young, needs her parents for him to have adequate development. In the event that they separate, the child is more likely to develop behavior problems or anxiety.

3. Using the attachment figure as a basis for security

From this security it is possible to start exploring the physical and social world. This function helps your neurons connect properly and allows you to enter the education and, above all, that the child organize things and have a clear idea of ​​things, people, etc.

4. Emotional Support

In childhood, attachment allows you to feel secure by looking at the attachment figure wellness and emotional support.

Types of attachment

The following types of attachment influence the education and upbringing of children.

1. Secure attachment

The attachment figure is the parent who is able to respond appropriately to the child's emotional signals. In this type of attachment, the child understands feelings well and can regulate them; they seek proximity and contact; have positive expectations; show cooperative and empathetic attitudes; they are easily comforted by attachment figures; They are socially competent people and show normal separation anxiety.

2. Anxious-ambivalent attachment

It is made up of parents who they are affectionate but do not know how to understand the baby well; they play less, there is less contact; they are tough and selfish and less sensitive; responds only to negative conditions of the child (if a child complains); there is less contact. The child shows intense anxiety; they are hardly consoled by the attachment figure; shows anticipatory anger; he doesn't access rules easily; they ignore their emotional states and there is antisocial behavior in adolescence.

3. Anxious-avoidant attachment

Here are parents who are irresponsible, rejecting, intolerable with children, they think that everything the child does is wrong, there are continuous anger and rejection behaviors. The child has little or no separation anxiety; he does not want to see her mother with strange people; avoid rejections and punishments; the child notices that he is not loved, that it bothers him; they are less cooperative and more aggressive.

4. Anxious-disorganized attachment

Is present when there are parents who physically and psychologically abuse the child, manipulate their child. The child is disoriented, he approaches the attachment figure but with averted gaze; they are not motivated to achieve certain goals or behaviors (they are full of fear and anguish); they fear her attachment figure and seek out other people such as doctors or nurses; they are more likely to have behavior and aggression problems.

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