Attachment Styles: Formation and Effects

Secure Attachment Style

Characteristics:

• Healthy, happy, and long-lasting relationships.
• Trusting of others.
• Comfortable with intimacy and closeness.
• Feel emotionally safe in relationships.

Childhood Experiences:

• Consistent and reliable caregivers.
• Caregivers responsive to child's needs.
• Child feels loved, accepted, and secure.

Anxious Attachment Style

Characteristics:

• Insecure and anxious in relationships.
• Worry about partner's feelings and commitment.
• Fear rejection and abandonment.
• Often seek reassurance from partner.

Childhood Experiences:

• Inconsistent and unpredictable caregivers.
• Caregivers not responsive to child's needs.
• Child feels anxious, insecure, and unworthy of love.

Avoidant Attachment Style

Characteristics:

• Avoid intimacy and closeness in relationships.
• Fear being controlled by others.
• Often have difficulty expressing emotions.
• May appear independent and self-sufficient.

Childhood Experiences:

• Rejecting or neglectful caregivers.
• Caregivers not supportive or emotionally available.
• Child feels unwanted, unloved, and unworthy of attention.

Disorganized Attachment Style

Characteristics:

• Combination of anxious and avoidant behaviors.
• Struggles to regulate emotions.
• Difficulty trusting others.
• May have experienced trauma or abuse in childhood.

Childhood Experiences:

• Inconsistent and unpredictable caregivers.
• Caregivers may be abusive or neglectful.
• Child feels confused, scared, and insecure.