1995/05/01 by Michael Rutter · 331 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Attachment and Relationship Dynamics #Attachment measures #Attachment theory #Child Welfare and Adoption #Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development #Developmental psychology #Emotional security #Insecure attachment #Personality #Psychoanalytic theory #Psychology #Psychotherapist #Social psychology #Strange situation #Temperament
paper · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1995.tb02314.x
published in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 36(4), 549-571 (Wiley)
openalex publication_date 1995/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The key features of attachment theory are summarized and the unresolved questions considered in terms of a behavioural control system, measurement of attachment security, qualities of attachment, the role of temperament, transformation of a dyadic quality into an individual characteristic, internal working models, manifestations of attachment post infancy, how one relationship affects another relationship, boundaries of attachment, associations with later functioning, the role of parenting qualities and patterns of caregiving, adaptive value of secure attachment, and disorders of attachment. The clinical implications are discussed in terms of: the need to reject the traditional psychoanalytic theories of development, the patterns of residential care for children, the provision of child care, the assessment of parenting, the effects of parental divorce and family break-up, "maternal bonding" to infants, psychotherapy and disorders of attachment.