ABSTRACT
Overall, 72% of the infants received the same secure versus insecure attachment classification in early adulthood. 44% of the infants whose mothers reported negative life events changed attachment classifications from infancy to early adulthood. One of Bowlby's primary goals in developing modern attachment theory was to preserve what he considered Freud's genuine insights about close relationships and development. These included insights about the complexity of social, cognitive, and emotional life in infancy, underlying similarities in the nature of close relationships in infancy and adulthood, and the importance of early experience. Lacking attachment security measures that could be applied beyond infancy, few if any researchers in the mid-1970s planned long-term follow-up assessments. This chapter examines the extent of stability and change in attachment patterns from infancy to early adulthood and to stimulate research into the mechanisms underlying these developmental trajectories.
