Anderson's Analysis - Article Example

Anderson’s (2010) article examines a recent study that has found a correlation between insecure early childhood maternal attachment and later day behavioral mal-adaptations. The latter-day problems include, “noncompliance, aggression, and hostility.” The study examined whether there was a positive correlative significance across a series of past studies and determined that such a characterization was accurate. Doctors indicate that the findings are significant as they demonstrate that establishing a supportive relationship with one’s child in early childhood has a direct bearing on development factors later in the child’s life; as a result, more research is needed to investigate the interrelationship between these variables.

The study found that boys indicated more statistically significant levels of later life external mal-adaptations than girls (d = 0.35 vs d = 0.03). The reasons for this occurrence may be because of biological issues related to gender, or that girls tend towards internalization of problems instead of externalization. Other arguments were that “the reasons we're not seeing differences is that we're looking in the wrong place and that girls have other problems..such as depression and anxiety.

” While the researchers also acknowledge that the studies may not adequately account for genetic factors, they contend that there is a clear environmental correlation between insecure maternal attachment and later day externalization of maladaptive behavior. The parent’s mental health is also another variable that must be investigated as it may possibly contribute to the external behaviors. It seems that future research must investigate the underlining causes of insecure parental attachment.

The research seems to predominantly place the agency on the child when it seems that the emphasis should be on everything except this variable. It’s also possible that these external behaviors are not direct an aspect of insecure attachment, but merely correlational.