Attachment Security, Article Review Example

Article 1

Predictors of attachment security in preschool children from intact and divorced families

Section A

The research question in this article is the impact of divorce on the attachment and the security of preschool children. The research is a theoretical one since it bases its study on research in the same field. The theory used in the study is the attachment theory, which tries to connect early behavior in infants to later representations. The research bases its support from previous work in the same subject including the findings of Burji J on the parental authority questionnaire published by the Journal of Personality Assessment. Previous research include Waters and Dean (1982), Lewis and Starr (1979) Bowlby (1973) and Bretherton (1985) which provide for the development of the attachment theory.

Section B

The population sample of the families used in the study consists of 58 participants 28 of these from divorced families and the other 30 from intact families. The children in this research study were between the ages of 3 to 6 and the divorced families went through the divorce an average of 12 months preceding the study. The sample represented without bias as all the factors in the society were represented including gender, age, location, and race. The methods employed by research in its sampling procedure included inviting the participants to the study. The consent of the participants obtained prior to the commencement of the study. The procedure not blinded, as the participants made aware of the study.

Section C

The variables present in the study are independent and variable variables. The independent variables represented by the divorce of families and the dependent variable being the attachment security. The variables in this study are dependent and independent since the attachment security in the study affected by whether the families divorced or not. The outcome of divorce represented by attachment security as represented in the study relies on the divorce status of the family. The variable brought into operation by the use of a control group to measure the attachment security. The control group used here is the intact families included in the sample population. The deviation by the test group from the control group forms the results of the study. The variables used to check the variations between the study group and the control group giving the results of the research. The measures employed in the study were to show whether the subjects of the study were either secured or unsecured. The study aim was to measure the level of security of the subjects.

Section D

The method of data collection used by the study involves the use of a demographic questionnaire filed by the children and the parents. The questionnaire measures the temperament of the sample. The dimensions tested by the questionnaire include the approach, adaptability, mood, persistence, distractibility, activity and the threshold of the children involved. The questionnaire covered all the aspects required for the completion of the study. It tested the measure of attachment, stress, maternal depression, conflict, parenting, social support, and child temperament. The information was collected with questionnaires filled by the participants in the study.

Section E

The research design used in the study takes the correlation-based approach. The approach based on the establishment of a relationship between divorce and attachment security without the alteration of the variables. The study seeks to establish attachment security in divorced families and uses intact families as a control in the establishment of this. The design taken by the study is a single time point as the data collected from a single population at one instance without recollection of the same.

Section F

The research concluded the tendency of mothers from divorced families having lower income as compared to their intact counterparts.  The study further provides in the conclusion that these mothers from divorced families undergo more stress in their daily hassles. They further showed depression, experienced more conflicts, and needed social support. The mothers from intact families exhibited more positive and nurturing parenting styles as compared to their divorced counterparts. The children from divorced families had less attachment securities. The threats to the internal validity of the research are the instrumentation process involving observations and outcome and the selection of subjects affected by bias. On the other hand, the external threats are the lack of consistency in the collection of information from the population samples and the lack of proper documentation in the research context. The alternatives to the interpretation of the data obtained infer that the study was conducted over a long duration of time. The consequence of lack of monitoring the study subjects between the initial time and the later assessment leads to many discrepancies in the results. The duration between the initial data collection and the final one leads to many misinterpretations.

Article 2

Section A

The question the research tries to solve is the measure of attachment over time on individuals from infancy to adolescence. The research is theoretical since its point of departure based on an existing theory. The theory the research based on is attachment theory, which seeks to explain the origins of emotional and social behavior. Past research, which supports the study, include the study by Belsky and Campbell on the instability of parent infant attachment security published in the developmental psychology. The study shows that the consequent emotional and social behavior of children relies on the attachment or lack of it thereof.

Section B

The study targeted the population of one year Olds to participate in the study. The size of the sample population involved 84 individuals all with an age of one year. The individuals represented both the middle classed families and upper class families. The sample selection considered the gender of the child and sought to represent equally the variations of socioeconomic status of the subjects. The sampling procedure used consent from the parents on the study after the birth of the children. The selection of study subjects is done at birth with the consent from their parents. The participants of the study informed of the desired study, and their consent obtained prior to the commencement of the study. The consent obtained soon after childbirth and the population sample aimed at gender equality and variations in the social economic status and categories of attachment.

Section C

The variables involved in the study are attachments and time. The dependent variables in this case represented by the attachment while the independent variable being the time. The measure of the variable of attachment tested using these variables. The study aimed at measuring the securities or non-securities attached. The level of security forming the basis for measuring the study results on the security of attachment over time. The use of security and insecurity in the measurement of the resulting outcomes employed as a measure in the study. .

Section D

The data in the study collected using the Modified Strange Situation within three weeks of child birth.  This procedure later followed up with an interview with the subject 18 years later. The interview took an open-ended approach where the test subjects required providing explanations to the questions during the one-hour interview. The independent raters who were blind to the measures of the study later rated the transcripts from the interviews. Autobiographical recollections from the participants on their childhood also used to arrive at the results of the study.

Section E

The research design employed in the research took a correlation approach, as the variables not modified in the study. The approach tries to measure the outcome of a study without manipulation of the variables in order to conclude as to whether there exists a correlation between the variables. The study is a developmental design, as the research tends to seek its results through an extended period as compared to a short duration. The design tends to stretch to 18 years in order to complete collection of data to arrive at a conclusion.

The study concludes that the change in attachment habits of the individuals influenced by divorce. The social and emotional distributions caused by divorce deemed to be traumatizing. The aspect of divorce considered a status variable in the study with its impact continuing over time. The study notes that divorce doers not contribute to the lack of adjustment in adolescence. The alternative explanations of the findings are that the study results project an outcome that the effects of divorce on security attachments have a correlation. The internal validity threats in this study include the threats of testing where the pretest or posttest becomes the basis of the results. The other threat is the bias in the process of selecting the test subjects. The external threats here are the inappropriate experimental arrangements, which may include interview timing and the testing procedure that overreliance on a test.

Part II

Section A

The strength of the research area is the availability and willingness of the test subjects. This attributed to the nature of the tests carried out. The tests involved in the study area are observation and questionnaire oriented. The methods of collecting data used in the study area require little time and are inexpensive as compared to controlled experiments. The flexibility of the time of collection of data also assists the determination of accuracy in the data results. There is sufficient time to collect the data in the two articles, and this allows for accurate and comprehensive data collection. There is a reduced interference on the subjects because of the reduced time of interaction with the research personnel. The method employed in data collection ensures a cheap and detailed collection of data.

On the other hand, the weakness of the research is the inconsistency in the family unit. The outcome of the study is based on whether the family is an intact one or divorced and this affected by lack of guarantees on the marital status of the families. The weakness in the research design and methodology is eminent. The research results may be predisposed to insincere responses in the collection of data. The research area also faced on generalizations where the results either categorized in terms of the status of the family whether intact or4 divorced regardless of the results of the subject. They also presented the fact of population validity where the results applied to the whole population represented by the sample.

Section B

The issues that explored in the future in this area are the methods of data processing. The methods used in the two articles are not comprehensive and do not ensure the accuracy of the results arrived at. The methods employed in data collection do not collect the compre3hensive information required. In the second article, the data collected only twice that is at birth (up to three weeks after birth and at the age of 18. The data collected at birth not reliable as the observable behaviors of the subjects not fully developed to reach a concrete conclusion. The other interview at 18 meant to support the initial results but this also subject to shortcomings such as insincere responses. The first article only uses questionnaires, which are also subject to superficial responses and does not have any other method to check the results.

The other issues worth addressing in the future are the sampling size and sample distribution. The size of sampling in t6he first article is sizeable and manageable, but the sample population lacks a balanced representation. The sample population must be gender, race, and social class representative in order to obtain a representative sample population. The first article does not follow this requirement as the sample population is from one geographical location and does not represent the total population in terms of race. In the second, article the sample population although manageable and gender balanced the sampling does not factor in ethnicity and biased to only whites. In order to obtain a perfect sample leading to a well representation of the general population the consideration of all these factors are essential. These aspects of unbiased sampling are essential in the completion of an unbiased study.