Adult attachment classification system
Studied parents of 6 year old children who had been classified using the Strange Situation at 12 months and reexamined at 6 years old. Parents attachment style was measured using the Adult Attachment Interview (1985). They also found that there was significant intergenerational transmission with 73% of parents and children showing matching attachment types. From this work they created a parallel classification system for adults. They suggested that Working Models provide “rules and rule systems for the direction of behaviour and the felt appraisal of experience”. (p. 77) Furthermore that the “rules” or working models used by parents to classify relationships and for affect regulation are somehow passed on to children.
| Parent Style |
Child Style |
Parental Attitudes |
| Free to Evaluate |
Secure |
Values attachment and related experiences as being influential. Relatively independant and objective in evaluating experiences and relationships. At ease in recalling difficult episodes and integrating into a coherent view of the relationship. |
| Dismissing |
Avoidant |
Generally dismissing and devaluing of relationships. Difficulty recalling specific attachment experiences which were generally of rejection or lack of affection. |
| Preoccupied |
Anxious/Ambivalent |
Enmeshed in attitudes towards attachment and relationships. Had access to childhood memories but had difficulty in integrating them into a coherent model of relationships, showing confusion about some aspects. |