Assignment: Adult Attachment
Take a moment to reflect on your friendships. Think about who you consider to be your oldest friend and who might be your closest. Are they the same person? Why or why not?
While some individuals maintain the same friendships throughout their lifespans, others adapt their circles of friends as their interests, careers, and values change. As you reflect on your past and current friendships, how might your friendships and attachments to others compare?
In this Assignment, you will take Fraley’s Adult Attachment Survey (located in this week’s Learning Resources) to determine your personal attachment pattern. You will then consider how issues related to attachment have impacted your peer and romantic relationships, career choices, and current identity.
Complete a 3- to 4-page paper in which you do the following:
· Briefly summarize your personal patterns of attachment
· Identify your overall score and the corresponding attachment category
· Explain whether you think your results are accurate and why
· Explain how your attachment (either perceived or as identified in the Adult Attachment Survey) has shaped your development as an adult
· Justify your response with specific references to this week’s Learning Resources and the current literature
Readings
· Broderick, P. C., & Blewitt, P. (2015). The life span: Human development for helping professionals (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
o Chapter 11, “Physical and Cognitive Development in Young Adulthood” (pp. 408-437)
o Chapter 12, “Socioemotional and Vocational Development in Young Adulthood” (pp. 438-476)
· Arnett, J. J. (2007). Suffering, selfish, slackers? Myths and reality about emerging adults. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 36(1), 23–29.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
· Benson, J. E., Johnson, M. K., & Elder, G. H., Jr. (2012). The implications of adult identity for educational and work attainment in young adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 48(6), 1752–1758.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
· Brandell, J. R. (2010). Contemporary psychoanalytic perspectives on attachment. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 17(2), 132–157.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
· McAdams, D. P., Bauer, J. J., Sakaeda, A. R., Anyidoho, N. A., Machado, M. A., Magrino-Failla, K., … Pals, J. L. (2006). Continuity and change in the life story: A longitudinal study of autobiographical memories in emerging adulthood. Journal of Personality, 74(5), 1371–1400.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
· O’Connor, M., Sanson, A., Hawkins, M. T., Letcher, P., Toumbourou, J., Smart, D., … Olsson, C. (2011). Predictors of positive development in emerging adulthood. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40(7),860–874.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
· Robinson, O. C., & Smith, J. A. (2010). The stormy search for self in early adulthood: Developmental crisis and the dissolution of dysfunctional personae. The Humanistic Psychologist, 38(2), 120–145.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
· Rodriguez, P. D., & Ritchie, K. L. (2009). Relationship between coping styles and adult attachment styles. Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences, 13, 131–141.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
· Smits, I., Doumen, S., Luyckx, K., Duriez, B., & Goossens, L. (2011). Identity styles and interpersonal behavior in emerging adulthood: The intervening role of empathy. Social Development, 20(4), 664–684.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
· Specht, J., Egloff, B., & Schmukle, S. C. (2011). Stability and change of personality across the life course: The impact of age and major life events on mean-level and rank-order stability of the Big Five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(4), 862–882.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
· Fraley, R. C. (n.d.). Attachment style. Retrieved March 10, 2013 from http://www.web-research-design.net/cgi-bin/crq/crq.pl
Media
· Laureate Education (Producer). (2013m). Young adulthood [Video file]. Retrieved from CDN Files Database. (COUN 6215/COUN 8215/HUMN 8215)
This media piece highlights the family member aged 19–29.
Note: Please click on the following link for the transcript: Transcript (PDF).
· Laureate Education (Producer). (2013f). Perspectives: Emerging adulthood [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 3 minutes.
This week’s presenter highlights the challenges of working with clients in the 19–30 year-old age range, as well as the ways in which emerging adulthood is much like a “second adolescence.”
Accessible player –Downloads– Download Video w/CC Download Audio Download Transcript