Understanding Attachment Security in Family Context

Cook, William L.

¹Department of Psychiatry, Maine Medical Center, Portland, Maine
²Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont College of Medicine.

³Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to William L. Cook, Department of Psychiatry, Maine Medical Center, 22 Bramhall Street, Portland, Maine 04102-3175. Electronic mail may be sent to [email protected].

This research was funded by National Science Foundation Grant SBR-9696083. I thank Sheri Flaherty, Bruce Manley, Teri Rodway, and Rebecca Cornelli for their assistance conducting the research and preparing the data for analysis. I also thank Nancy Collins, Ted Dix, and David Kenny for their comments on an earlier version of this article.

Received Date: July 23, 1998; Revised Date: June 9, 1999; Accepted Date: June 23, 1999

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 78(2):p 285-294, February 2000.

Attachment theory () is not just about how internalized models of relationships affect interpersonal outcomes; it is primarily a theory about how interpersonal processes affect social and cognitive development. This study tested 3 hypotheses about the interpersonal sources of adult attachment security: (a) attachment security is relationship specific, (b) characteristics of partners affect attachment security, and (c) security of attachment is reciprocated. Measures of attachment security were obtained from 2 parents and 2 children (adolescent or older) in 208 middle-class families. Results of social relations model analysis () supported all 3 hypotheses. The author concludes that internal working models of relationships may not be so “internal” after all and that greater emphasis on the interpersonal sources of adult attachment security is warranted.