Attachment in adults

In psychology, the theory of attachment can be applied to adult relationships including friendships, emotional affairs, adult romantic and carnal relationships and, in some cases, relationships with inanimate objects ("transitional objects").[1] Attachment theory, initially studied in the 1960s and 1970s primarily in the context of children and parents, was extended to adult relationships in the late 1980s. The working models of children found in Bowlby's attachment theory form a pattern of interaction that is likely to continue influencing adult relationships.[2]

Investigators have explored the organization and the stability of mental working models that underlie these attachment styles. They have also explored how attachment styles impact relationship outcomes, and how attachment styles function in relationship dynamics.

  1. ^ Hooley JM, Wilson-Murphy M (April 2012). "Adult attachment to transitional objects and borderline personality disorder". Journal of Personality Disorders. 26 (2): 179–191. doi:10.1521/pedi.2012.26.2.179. PMID 22486448.
  2. ^ Grossmann K, Grossmann KE, Waters E (2006-06-23). Attachment from Infancy to Adulthood: The Major Longitudinal Studies. Guilford Press. ISBN 978-1-59385-381-5.