ADVANCES IN THE FORMULATION OF EMOTIONAL SECURITY THEORY: AN ETHOLOGICALLY BASED PERSPECTIVE
Section snippets
Overview of the Principles, Processes, and Pathways in Emotional Security Theory
Although research and clinical accounts repeatedly underscored the emotion-laden family processes accompanying interparental conflict, emotional mechanisms did not assume center stage in any of the conceptual models of interparental discord formulated in the twentieth century (e.g., Emery, 1982; Grych & Fincham, 1990); emotional security theory was designed to address this gap. Emotional security theory is rooted in the functionalist perspective on emotion and, consequently, accepts the
Distinctions between Security in the Interparental and Parent–Child Subsystems
Emotional security theory makes the assumption that children experience threats to security in the interparental relationship in ways that are overlapping with, but still distinct from, attachment security in parent–child relationships. However, emotional security theory has failed to provide an account of the overlapping and unique properties of the two emotional security systems. Neglect of this issue stemmed, in large part, from the conceptual difficulty in reconciling the different
Family Origins and Correlates of Emotional Security
Another litmus test in judging the value of ethology for emotional security theory is to examine its capacity to identify the family correlates and origins of individual differences in security in the interparental relationship. Toward this goal, Pathway 2 in Figure 1 depicts that repeated exposure to interparental conflict characterized by elevated hostility, indifference, and difficulties resolving anger progressively undermines children's emotional security in the interparental relationship
Emotional Insecurity and Children's Developmental Trajectories
Having outlined how an ethological perspective informs an understanding of the operation, origins, and correlates of children's patterns of security in the interparental relationship, our final step is to address how behavioral systems may help elucidate the implications of children's emotional security for their development and functioning. In this section, we first discuss why, at a broad level, prolonged activation of the defense system in response to chronic interparental discord may lead
Conclusion
In closing, novel theoretical contributions in advancing and refining emotional security theory have been progressively waning since its inception. To advance both the precision and the scope of emotional security theory, the main theme of our chapter was to introduce a reformulation of emotional security theory cast within an ethological framework. Prior accounts of emotional security theory regarded evolutionary assumptions and concepts as unnecessary theoretical baggage. In contrast, our
Acknowledgment
This research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (Projects R01 MH071256 and 2R01 MH 57318 awarded to Patrick T. Davies).
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