The Effects of Attachment Styles on Relationship Functioning

            THE EFFECTS OF ATTACHMENT STYLES ON RELATIONSHIP FUNCTIONING.
             Simpson, in the article "Influence of attachment styles on romantic relationships" (1990) said, "Study of individual differences in attachment styles is likely to contribute significantly to our understanding of why close relationships vary in both their quality and interpersonal nature." Recent research in the past few decades has proposed that the attachment style a person has which is developed by the childhood relationships with parents and important attachment figures is an important determinant in the experience of romantic love in later years. There has been increasing scientific support that attachment plays an important role in adult attachment and romantic relationships. In this respect, this paper will focus on the effects of attachment styles of adults in relationship functioning and satisfaction. In this respect the research question I will be focusing on will be "How do the attachment styles in adults affect relationship functioning and satisfaction?".
             I first see the need to form a conceptual background on the issue of attachment. The emotional bond between infants and their mothers can be seen in both humans as well as in many other animals. When an infant needs his mother and she is unavailable, such as in the case of separation, the infant is extremely distracted, he protests and searches for the mother. If such searching fails, the infant becomes depressed, and can even enter a state of disregard for and avoidance of the mother if she returns. Attachment is first introduced by Bowlby (1969, 1973, 1979, 1980) to explain how infants become emotionally attached to their primary caregivers and how stressful they become when separated. After Bowlby's theory, researchers began to investigate individual differences in attachment styles. Ainsworth and her colleagues (e.g., 1978, 1982) have identified three major attachment patterns based on infants' behaviour when they meet with the mother after a period of separation (Strange Situation, 1978), and came up with three attachment styles as; secure, avoidant and anxious/ambivalent.