Trust in Relation to the Attachment Levels of Child and Mother Relationship - Research Paper Example

Trust in Relation to the attachment levels of Child and Mother Relationship Introduction The relationship between a child and a mother is an amazing phenomenon of the world. The mother plays an important role in shaping her child and thus developing a trust between her and the child. Of course the attachment level is not same in every child and his mother but depends upon the situations and the experiences the child has to go through. With the awareness of the pregnancy a dream starts coming in her mind that when she gives birth to the small baby there should be the harmonious and close relationship between her and her child. This bond or intimacy can be studied on two different levels, first is physical level and second is psychological level. The physical connection is created when the baby is growing in the secure womb of its mother and it is well familiar with each and every touch of its mother. After taking birth the child physically gets separated from the mother and starts a new life as a separate living being but yet the physical needs don’t finish. The child needs mother for complete growth. In this the psychological growth is very important. This attachment is very necessary for the overall development of the child. A deep trust between both of them develops through the attachment. Many psychologists have proved that the mental or psychological attachment of the mother with the child provides social, emotional as well as psychological pedestal which the child needs for developing decision making capacity independently. The more secure the child is, the more he becomes courageous and confident. “Psychologists research shows that the quality of care infants receive affects how they later get along with friends, how well they do in school and how they react to new and possibly stressful, situations.” (Beth Azar, PsycNet 2009) This research paper aims at investigating the relationship between mother-child attachment and the trust establishes in the children and the security comes from the attachment with their mother. As per the research of Elizabeth Meins and Harris Paul “Even when the attachment system is not obviously activated, and children are simply unsure about the available evidence, the present results suggest that children prefer information from their mother rather than a stranger, and the strength of that preference is moderated by their attachment status. (Meins and Harris) This research paper tries to investigate the correlation between the trust and the attachment of child and his mother. For this research paper the previous research of Paul Harris and Elizabeth Meins will be considered as a major source. In both of their research paper they have proved that children’s pattern of responding is different and it depends upon the attachment status Keywords: Mother, Child, Attachment, Trust Proposal Body: Research Question The Research basically focuses on the attachment level between child and the mother. Previously the research on the similar topic was done by many researchers. The research on this same topic is done by Elizabeth Meins and Paul Harris. It was a longitude study. It was an in depth research, for which four different categories of the children were taken into consideration: avoidant, secure, resistant, and disorganized. The child basically relies on his mother and prefers to trust on her rather the stranger. It is because of the attachment which is developed in the child from his infancy. Particularly when the informant is a caregiver, the nature of the child’s attachment might influence the child’s trust in that person as an informant (Fonagy, Gergely, & Target, 2007). So basically the research questions for this research are: 1. Does the attachment level between the mother and the child influence the trust of the child? 2. Does the child always rely on the mother for getting every information even if he or she is very much attached to his mother? 3. Do the children from different categories have the same attachment level and trust to their mother? Importance of Research The mother is the natural guardian of the child. The child spends most of the time in the company of his mother. The child from his infancy tries to follow his mother. She is his first trust. According to Indian culture mother is the first teacher of the child. So here it is the responsibility of the mother to shape the child and to make the child more and more confident. This study will definitely help the mother to build the trust in the child’s mind. Among the four categories mentioned above the child should not be avoidant because in such circumstances he never trusts his mom which is definitely harmful for him in the future life and which can be the major reason in spoiling the relationship between the mother and the child. This is off course not a good indication. The research will be definitely useful as a guide to remove the negative tendencies among the child and develop the positive tendencies and thus build trust confidence and a healthy relationship between the child and the mother. Objectives of the Research The basic objectives of this paper are as follows: To find out whether there is trust on mother in the mind of that child who is very closely attach to his mother or apart from the attachment towards the mother the child sometimes prefers to trust on the other person from whom he gets the information. (e.g. the teacher) To find out the reasons behind the various tendencies developed in the child and their impact on the attachment level and trust level. The tendencies are avoidance, secure, resistant and disorganized. Among them security is the positive tendency seen among the children while avoidance, resistant and disorganized are the negative tendencies. LITERATURE REVIEW The infant while facing with the new objective about which it is totally unfamiliar seek the support of his mother for getting information. This is the spontaneous reaction from the child. In line with this expectation, infants who were exposed to an uncertainty-provoking object (a toy spider) were more influenced in their approach to the toy by the mother’s expressive signals when compared with those of a stranger (Zarbatany & Lamb, 1985). It means that at the early age of life especially in infancy the mother is the source of trust for the child because the child is mostly attached to her. But the categories started developing in infancy depending upon the experience and the level of interaction of the child with his mother. The child in the category of insecure avoidant is not ready to trust to his mother and try to be more and more self reliance in the decision making activity. Children who are classified as insecure-avoidant typically explore the environment independently and avoid interaction with the caregiver (Ainsworth et al., 1978). Thus, children who adopt the insecure avoidant strategy are characterized by a downplaying of the attachment figure’s importance coupled with high levels of self-reliance and autonomy (Bretherton, Ridgeway, & Cassidy, 1990).We can see this tendency among that child whose family is male dominated and the father always dominates the mother and imposes his opinion on mother and where the mother has no voice at all. In such house the child also starts thinking his mother as a dumb object and not capable of trusting. This picture is generally seen in many orthodox Indian families. The totally opposite picture can be seen in the children who come under the category of insecure resistant. They very much rely on their mother even for a small decision also. This attachment comes out of insecurity and at this level they trust their mother than any other person in the world. Infants falling into the insecure-resistant category are preoccupied with the caregiver to the detriment of independent and collaborative exploration of the environment (Ainsworth et al., 1978). These infants typically reject the friendly play advances of an unfamiliar, female experimenter. They stay close to the mother and vigilantly monitor her behavior. Thus, insecure-resistant children are dependent on signals provided by their caregivers, with poor expectations of their own ability to deal with new situations and demands without guidance from the attachment figure (Green, Stanley, Smith, & Goldwyn, 2000). As far as secure children are concerned the attachment level with the mother is definitely there. But it is the healthy attachment and has not come out of the tendency of protectiveness. In the experiment done by Elizabeth Mein and Paul Harris it is found that the students from this category are more balanced and flexible. Children who are securely attached use the caregiver as a secure base from which to explore, actively involving the caregiver in their interactions with objects (Ainsworth et al., 1978). In the next category that is known as disorganized category of the children is quite confusing. Here the children are not sure about anything and they have lot of doubts in their minds. It is an inconsistent type of behaviour. The base of this type of behaviour is of course in infancy of the child. This confusion develops in the child’s mind because of the inconsistency and perplexed behaviour of the mother. The caregiver should be the child’s secure base, and yet the caregiver’s behavior induces fear and confusion in the child (Main & Hesse, 1990). RESEARCH METHODOLOGY While implementing the proper research methodology we are here going to consider about the following major points: 1. Population of Interest 2. The research Design 3. Data analysis Plan 4. Preparing the survey instruments 1. The population of interest: It will be the small children of different groups. They were categorized in different groups according to their behaviour. The mother will also accompany the students. 2. Research Design: For this research the data will be collected from both primary and secondary sources. In primary sources the interviews with mothers, active interaction with the children including various activities and games will be included. Among them here I would like to include one activity. Give a simple mathematical problem from the syllabus of the children and the mother will tell them her own method of solving the problem. The method will be different from the teacher’s method. In such case the children are inclined towards accepting the method told them by the teacher. They are not willing to accept mother’s method even if they are attached to their mother. Here we can say that it is not the question of attachment but it is the question of the first source of information. It is somewhat similar to “First impression is the last impression.” As the main target of this study is the small children some interesting activities are necessary. The secondary data will be collected from the previous research done on the same subject by the researchers. It will include the books, articles, research papers, journals, other statistical data etc. DATA ANALYSIS PLAN According to the literature review the trust depends upon the attachment level and the attachment level is connected with the various experiences of the child and its interaction with its mother. Other points will be also included in the research such as the trust and the attachment level in different types of bahaviour among the children. The research will also develop the further study why a particular approach develops in the child. The research methodology is conducted on the basis of both quantitative and qualitative analysis. To put the research forward the collected data will be explained in forms of figures tables, graphs etc. The games also will be described in details with the number of participants. Sources: 1. Elizabeth Meins and Paul Harris, Young Children’s Trust in Their Mother’s Claims: Longitudinal Links With Attachment Security in Infancy. 2. “The Bond between Mother and Child,” by Beth Azar, PsycNet 2009, American Psychological Association, website: http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep95/attach.html 3. Fonagy, P., Gergely, G., & Target, M. (2007). The parent– infant dyad and the construction of the subjective self. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48, 288–32 4. Zarbatany, L., & Lamb, M. E. (1985). Social referencing as a function of information source: Mothers versus strangers. Infant Behavior and Development, 8, 25–33. 5. Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the Strange Situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. 6. Bretherton, I., Ridgeway, D., & Cassidy, J. (1990). Assessing internal working models of the attachment relationship: An attachment story completion task for 3-year-olds. In M. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & E. M. Cummings (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research and intervention (pp. 273–308). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 7. Green, J., Stanley, C., Smith, V., & Goldwyn, R. (2000). A new method of evaluating attachment representations in young school age children: The Manchester Child Attachment Story Task. Attachment and Human Development, 2, 48–70. 8. Main, M., & Hesse, E. (1990). Parents’ unresolved traumatic experiences are related to infant disorganized attachment status: Is frightened and ⁄ or frightening parental behavior the linking mechanism? In M.Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & E. M. Cummings (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research and intervention (pp. 161–182). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Read More