How does attachment style influence early childhood development

Attachment, from the cradle to the grave, has a life-long influence. There are four styles of attachment with one secure and three insecure (avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized). Since attachment is built up in infants, it can have a significant influence throughout a child’s whole life. Hence forming a secure attachment is definitely important in early childhood. By viewing recent studies, this paper summarises the characteristics of the four attachment patterns and compares in detail the influences of secure and avoidant attachment on children’s development. It is revealed that securely attached children can form better personalities and relationships with others, whereas avoidantly attached children tend to have more internalizing and externalizing behaviors relatively. More importantly, although attachment patterns last a lifetime after they are formed, this does not mean that they cannot be changed. Several suggestions for improving insecure-avoidant attachment will be provided for caregivers at the end of the paper.