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Essay / Child Development: Early Infant Attachment - 797
(Early infant attachment is an important phenomenon to study because it is linked to the child's later development). Early infant attachment is linked to cognitive, social, and emotional development (Pallini, Baiocco, Schneider, Madigan, & Atkinson, 2014). These three aspects of development are important in the capabilities of later mental processing, in the relationships formed later in life, as well as in psychological stability. Bonds formed with caregivers in early childhood are vital. Bowlby said, “It is our early relationship, usually with our mother, that determines much of our future well-being” (O'Gorman, 2012). It is crucial to a child's development to examine parenting styles and classifications of infant attachment that are made to caregivers. Most research focuses on mother-child attachment, leaving little room for relationships with fathers. Through the well-studied idea of mother-child attachment, important insights into child development have been provided. Mary Ainsworth discovered through her “Strange Situation” experiment that there are three distinct types of attachment that infants form: anxious-avoidant, secure, and anxious-resistant (O'Gorman, 2013). Later, a fourth attachment style, called disorganized attachment, was identified (CITE). Secure attachment is related to maternal sensitivity, just as insecure attachment is related to maternal rejection or unpredictable maternal response to an infant's wants and needs (Kinsvatter, Desmond, Yanikoski, & Stahl, 2013). Infants are “at risk” of developing an insecure attachment to their mothers when placed in alternative care before the age of nine months (Stifter, Coulehan, & Fish, 1993). This is concerning as we see that there are negative effects... middle of paper ...... play also has a strong impact on a child's emotional development (Hjelmstedt & Collins, 2008). The study involves seeing whether infants form the same crucial attachment classifications with their fathers as with their mothers and whether parenting style is linked to the attachment formed. Given the increase in the number of stay-at-home fathers and the research carried out on the importance of early infant attachment on the cognitive, social and emotional development of the child, it is legitimate to claim that the examination of Parenting styles and attachments formed toward fathers could provide excellent insight into an understudied topic. It is hypothesized that parenting styles are related to the attachment that infants have with their father, as the primary caregiver, and that these attachments closely resemble the four identified styles found in mothers that can be observed in a strange situation..