Attachment and Spiritual Maturity 26
associated with decreased exploration and contact seeking mixed with anger toward the
caregiver. In the AAI, such a strategy is marked by discourse incoherence characterized
by excessive and irrelevant information, difficulty maintaining a clear sense ofthe
discourse context, and anger that interferes with achieving a balanced perspective on self and parents.
In summary, functional emotion regulation forms an implicit criterion for secure
strategies in the Strange Situation and the AAI. Infants judged secure in the Strange
Situation actively use distress-related emotions to signal and seek comfort from caregivers
(Sroufe & Waters, 1977). Similarly, adults judged secure in the AAI are able to access
distress related memories in order to reflect on attachment relationships and maintain
cooperative interview discourse (Kobak & Sceery, 1988). In contrast, individuals
employing secondary or insecure strategies may be prone to dysfunctional regulation of
emotions. For instance, deactivating strategies may restrict access to attachment feelings,
resulting in limited affective engagement with caregivers (Cassidy & Kobak, 1988) while
hyperactivating strategies may foster excessive or exaggerated emotional displays.
Hazen and Shaver (1994) support Main's claim that a person's attachment
relationship with parents in early childhood influences their relationships in adult life
(Main et al. l 985~ Main, 1990). This claim is supported by integrating a body of
evidence showing that bereavement or loss of a love relationship constitutes a potent
stressor throughout life and that the presence of a close confiding relationship is
protective against stress in adults of all ages, as well as in children (Hazen & Shaver,
1994). They suggest that attachments are peoples' greatest source ofwell-being and are
necessary for healthy functioning.
Hazan and Shaver (1987) also apply Bowlby' s (1969) attachment theory to some
of the key issues in close relationships. They argued there was enough data on attachment
in relationships for the development of a comprehensive theory to guide future research.
The authors attempt to show that attachment theory can incorporate a broad range of
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker