Bullying and Attachment Styles - Coursework Example

Secure individuals can develop healthy interpersonal relationships with their peers and others. An insecure attachment results in a person distrusting the world as they find other people unreliable, thus they do not develop balanced inter-personal relationships. Research suggests that attachment styles are stable over time, and those insecure attachments are more likely to result in low social bonding and more risk of becoming a bully, or experiencing bullying, as compared to secure attachment individuals.

This study will use a purposive sample of university students to gather self-reports of attachment with parents, relationships with others, and bullying experiences, “Then”, retrospectively of high school, and “Now” at university.Attachment is an emotional bond formed first during infancy between the primary caregivers and the child. Later attachment figures are expected to be peers during the high school years (Freeman & Brown, 2001). It is through the process of attachment to a significant other that an individual learns to interact with others and to take part in meaningful and balanced interpersonal social relationships (Bowlby, 1969).

Research into attachment styles and patterns began in the early 1960s (Ainsworth, 1968; Ainsworth, Bell & Stayton, 1971; Bowlby, 1969). Since the topic was introduced, there has been an avid research area among social scientists. Most researchers take an ecological approach in that the "whole" life of the individual is taken into account (Hamilton, 2000). Attachment styles can be divided into two broad categories: secure and insecure (Ainsworth, Bell & Stayton, 1971). Secure relationships result in healthy social relationships with others, and in cases of parents/caregivers, these significant others are seen as sources of support.

Whereas insecure relationships tend to result in unbalanced social interactions as the individual finds it difficult to trust others, and parents/caregivers are perceived as unreliable and unsupported. Childhood attachment styles are stable into adolescence and adulthood (Hamilton, 2000; shield, 2001). Further, studies indicate that individuals with insecure attachment styles have a greater likelihood to become bullies or being bullied.