ABSTRACT
More than two decades of intensive research on the infant–parent attachment relationship (for reviews, see Colin, 1991; Belsky and Cassidy, 1994), particularly in concert with the more recent application of attachment theory to the study of close relationships in adulthood (Hazan and Shaver, in press), make it clear that Bowlby’s (1969–1982) seminal ideas have had a major impact on the thinking of psychologists and on the care of children. The legacy of Bowlby that we address in this chapter derives directly from Mary Ainsworth. This is because Ainsworth transported Bowlby’s ideas across the Atlantic and further developed the theory to explain the origins of individual differences in attachment security during infancy and early childhood–and that is the focus of this chapter.
