Special section: does infancy matter?
Contextualism and the issue of continuity

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0163-6383(00)00017-5Get rights and content

Abstract

In the study of continuity development, two models have predominated in the research literature: organismic vs. contextual model. The first, the organismic, is characterized by the claim that early individual characteristics—what I refer to as traits—have predictive power in relation to subsequent behavior. The contextual model, on the other hand, stresses that predictive power of early individual characteristics is rather weak and that the best predictor of later behavior is the nature of the environment the individual occupies at that point in time. In this paper, both models are presented (including an interactive one), using data from a longitudinal study of attachment. Findings from children 1 to 18 years reveal that 18-year-old models of attachment, as well as the level of psychopathology shown, are best predicted by concurrent family status (whether the mother and father are divorced), rather than early attachment or the interaction between early attachment and family status.

Section snippets

Developmental models in socio-emotional development

We return to our developmental models in a more formal way using attachment as our exemplar of the problems in asking the question about the nature of change. Three models of attachment over time are offered as they relate to the role of the environment or to contextualism. These models are the child attribute model, the contextual model, and the transactional model.

Contextualism and the nature of environments

In some sense, all the positions, except for the most radical trait view, argue for at least some role of the environment, however defined. In order to explore the question of stability and change in attachment, it is necessary to measure the nature of the environment. One problem is to define the quality of the environment. One can look at the mother-child relationship over time in keeping with the idea that mothers, as primary caregivers, are the most important respects of environments.

Does attachment at one year predict anything?

The child attribution or trait model suggests that early attachment at one year should be related to autobiographical recollection at 13 years and to adult attachment models at 18 years. There is no relationship between attachment behaviors and attachment classification at one year and these two later attachment models (see Lewis et al., 2000). Of the insecure 1-year-olds, over 60% had secure attachment models at 13 and 18 years while of the secure 1-year-olds, only about 57% had secure

Personal narratives and identity

There is not much support for the idea that people’s working models may bear much resemblance to what actually occurred in their childhood. In fact, those models are likely to be more related to people’s current status. We can see that what occurred in early childhood bears little relation to what it is that people believe about their relationships with their parents. In other words, early attachment relationships bear little resemblance to what people will believe later in life or how they may

Contextualism and the measure of environments

Perhaps the best way to contrast contextualism with the more traditional developmental models is to apply both to a problem in development. Consider this example. A child is being raised by a mother who is depressed. The child’s condition at one year is influenced by her mother’s psychopathology. As in most studies, we can ask, ”What will that child be like when she is of school age?“ Assuming that the child showed poor school adjustment, we could argue that the child’s earlier adjustment

References (78)

  • Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1973). The development of infant-mother attachment. In B. M. Caldwell & H. N. Ricciuti (Eds.)....
  • M.D.S. Ainsworth et al.

    Patterns of attachmentA psychological study of the strange situation

    (1978)
  • Ainsworth, M. D. S., & Marvin, R. S. (1995). On the shaping of attachment theory and research: An interview with Mary...
  • P.R. Amato et al.

    Parental divorce and the well-being of childrenA meta analysis

    Psychological Bulletin

    (1991)
  • R. Arend et al.

    Continuity of individual adaptation from infancy to kindergartenA predictive study of ego-resiliency and curiosity in preschoolers

    Child Development

    (1979)
  • A. Bandura

    The psychology of chance encounters and life paths

    American Psychologist

    (1982)
  • J. Belsky et al.

    Instability of infant-parent attachment security

    Developmental Psychology

    (1996)
  • J. Belsky et al.

    Assessing performance, competence, and executive capacity in infant playRelations to home environment and security of attachment

    Developmental Psychology

    (1984)
  • J. Belsky et al.

    Developmental history, personality, and family relationshipsToward an emergent family system

  • Belsky, J., Rovine, M., & Fish, M. (1989). The developing family system. In M. R. Gunnar & E. Thelan (Eds.). Systems...
  • J. Belsky et al.

    Infant attachment security and affective-cognitive information processing at age 3

    Psychological Science

    (1996)
  • T.J. Berndt et al.

    Peer relationships in child development

    (1989)
  • T.J. Berndt et al.

    Children’s perceptions of friendships as supportive relationships

    Developmental Psychology

    (1986)
  • B.S. Bloom

    A factor analysis of self-report measures of family functioning

    Family Process

    (1964)
  • J. Bowlby

    Attachment and lossVol.1, Attachment

    (1969)
  • J. Bowlby

    Attachment and lossVol. 2, Separation

    (1973)
  • Bronfenbrenner, U., & Crouter, A. C. (1983). The evolution of environmental models in developmental research. In W....
  • H. Cole-Detke et al.

    Attachment processes in eating disorder and depression

    Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

    (1996)
  • P.T. Davies et al.

    Marital conflict and child adjustmentAn emotional security hypothesis

    Psychological Bulletin

    (1994)
  • J. Dunn

    Young children’s close relationshipsBeyond attachment

    (1993)
  • J. Elicker et al.

    Predicting peer competence and peer relationships in childhood from early parent-child relationships

  • Foss, B. M. (Ed). (1969). Determinants of infant behavior IV. London: Methuen & Co.,...
  • N.A. Fox et al.

    Attachment to mother/attachment to fatherA meta-analysis

    Child Development

    (1991)
  • George, C., Kaplan, N., & Main, M. (1985). The attachment interview for adults. Unpublished manuscript, University of...
  • J.H. Grych et al.

    Marital conflict and children’s adjustmentA cognitive-contextual framework

    Psychological Bulletin

    (1990)
  • W.W. Hartup

    Conflict and friendship relations

  • C. Hazan et al.

    Conceptualizing romantic love as an attachment process

    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

    (1987)
  • P. Howes et al.

    Marital quality and child functioningA longitudinal investigation

    Child Development

    (1989)
  • J.M. Hunt

    Intelligence and experience

    (1961)
  • W. James

    Principles of psychology, (original work published 1890 by Holt)

    (1950)
  • James, W. (1975). Pragmatism (F. Bowers, Text Ed.). Cambridge: MA: Harvard University...
  • J.M. Jenkins et al.

    Marital disharmony and children’s behavior problemsAspects of poor marriage that affect children adversely

    Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry

    (1991)
  • J.R. Johnston et al.

    Ongoing past divorce conflict and child disturbance

    Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology

    (1987)
  • Kagan, J. (1971). Change and continuity in infancy. New York, NY:...
  • S. Kierkegaard

    The present age (A Duc, Trans.)

    (1846)
  • M.H. Klaus et al.

    Maternal-infant bondingThe impact of early separation or loss on family development

    (1976)
  • Cited by (11)

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text