Written by : Bretagne Charlotte, Cheval Mathilde, Perocheau Salomé
This article is a book chapter summary by Jean-Pascal Assailly on attachment and risky behaviours. We decided to take an interest in this subject because attachment is the child’s need to create a close link with a person, especially his mother. This attachment is essential in the psychological development of the child.
The concept of attachment
Attachment is the willingness to seek the proximity or contact of a certain individual, this situation is sustainable, it does not depend on the situation and evolves only very slowly over time.
Attachment behaviours refers to all the various expressions and behavioral modalities that the individual uses from time to time to obtain or maintain this desired closeness.
During development, attachment behaviours become more diverse and more complex. But they all have the same function: the protection.
From our innate need for protection, attachment will gradually form the matrix of our emotional life and our socialization.
Growing up, the child no longer needs the physical presence of the attachment figure, he builds internal operating models based on the behaviors of attachment figures and expectations about the behaviour of others towards him. These operating internal models affect the child’s perception of his environment and therefore on his behaviour.
Types of attachment
There are four types of attachment in children:
-Children “secure”: the attachment figure reacts quickly to the child’s requests. The child is confident in the availability as well as in the type of response of his attachment figure in case of need, negative or threatening experiences.
-Children “anxious avoiders”: the attachment figure reacts abruptly but without affect, nor positive (affection), nor negative (anger). The child has no confidence in the availability of his attachment figure because he expects to be rejected.
-Children “ambivalent or resistant” children: the attachment figure reacts against time, she is indifferent when not, intrusive when not either. The child is unsure of the availability and type of response of his attachment figure in case of need, negative or threatening experiences.
-Children “disorganized”: the attachment figure presents stories of abuse, trauma, or unresolved bereavement in her own childhood, even when she does not abuse her child herself. In this case, there is a reversal of roles between parent and child, it is parentification. The child is therefore confronted with a paradox.
Attachment to mother and attachment to father
As with the mother, there is a correlation between the father’s state of mind and the safety of her child’s attachment, but it is weaker than that between mother and child. However, there is no correlation between the father’s states of mind and those of the child. Both parents contribute to the construction of an “autobiographical self” by the child but at two different levels of organization: the mother contributes to the emotional organization (the “episodic self”), the father to the semantic organization because it designates the child in his role, his generation, his sex (the “affiliative self).
The consequences of attachment:
The attachment style generates a “basic confidence” in others that could enable them to better cope with dangers.
Several studies have highlighted the relationship between attachment style and substance use:
-Cannabis use is linked to an anxious attachment to parents (Brook et al., 1990).
-The quality of mother-child interactions at age 5 predicts the type of cannabis use at 18 years of age (experimentation or abuse): mothers of abusers were cold, unresponsive and protective, encouraging their child little but exerting pressure on performance (Shedler et al., 1990).
The regulation of emotions is a mediator between the traumatic events experienced by the child and the use of psychoactive substances.
Thus, the search for sensations, the influence of which we know on different types of risky behaviours, can be conceived as a defense mechanism in relation to the problem of defensive exclusion: sensations would regulate anxiety without having to reactivate attachment emotions.
The use of psychoactive substances can be conceived as a self-medication against anxiety in adolescence. This period is characterized by a reactivation of separation anxiety and negative emotions experienced during childhood.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it must be remembered that a secure link does not lead to dependence on the attachment figure, but rather to autonomy and exploration that is neither deficit (inhibition) nor exaggerated (risk-taking). Conversely, anxious attachment may reflect two seemingly opposite situations: the attachment figure too far (neglect, rejection) or too close (intrusiveness).
The defensive exclusion of affects seems to be the central process in the genesis of attitudes to danger, it leads to a “homeostasis of emotions” that leads to a homeostasis of risk. Thus, the subject tries to regulate his emotions by various risk-taking, such as the use of psychoactive substances.
This article shows how the attachment between the child and his mother works and the importance of this bond on his development. It also shows the negative consequences, especially the risky behaviours that may appear as a result of a bad attachment.
Key Words: Attachment – Child – Mother – Father – Risky behaviours.
Words we have learned:
-Sunstainable : durable
-Internal operating models : Modèles internes opérants
-Towards him : Envers lui
-Threatening experiences: Expériences menaçantes
-Weaker: Plus faible