Emotional Development, Temperament, and Attachment Throughout Childhood (Essay Sample)

Emotional Development, Temperament, and Attachment Throughout Childhood Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Class Professor’s Name Date Emotional Development, Temperament, and Attachment Throughout Childhood Studying the relationship between emotional development, temperament, and attachment throughout childhood is important in creating an understanding of the factors that influence the emotional and cognitive development of children. Parents and caregivers can find ways to positively influence the social and emotional skills learned by children and lead to better emotional development throughout childhood. Several psychologists studied this topic during and before the 20th century. For example, Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development describes emotional development throughout childhood. Moreover, the attachment theory and Schachter-Singer's theory of emotion also help explain this topic. Findings from previous studies show a strong relationship between emotional development, temperament, and attachment. In line with the attachment, Schachter-Singer, and Erickson’s theories, temperament influences attachment, and both temperament and attachment have an impact on emotional development throughout childhood. Impact of Temperament on Attachment Temperament may or may not influence attachment depending on the responses of the parents to the temperamental behaviors of the child. According to Hong and Park (2012, p. 453), when a child exhibits temperamental behaviors, the parent or the caregiver may choose to ignore or control the child’s behaviors, while ensuring that the child’s conduct is acceptable as per their needs. For example, the child’s parent may opt to change the environment in which they are bringing up the child as a way to control the temperamental behaviors of the child. In some instances, the parent’s or caregiver’s personal attributes and the presence of stressful circumstances may cause a bad child-parent or child-caregiver relationship (Hong & Park, 2012, p. 453). In such a case, the child may face attachment insecurity because of their temperament or unacceptable behaviors. Therefore, the type of attachment developed may differ depending on the parent or the caregiver. In one study involving children aged 6 years, the researchers found that temperament impacted attachment. The researchers found that temperament influenced 16% of the level of attachment for the children (Kaya et al., 2020, p. 159). Therefore, temperamental bahaviors, such as children being easily irritated, have an impact on the relationship or attachment they have with their parents or caregivers. The impact temperament has on a child's attachment to a parent or caregiver means that it can directly or indirectly influence emotional development in children. Impact of Temperament on Emotional Development Temperament indirectly impacts attachment and emotional development, and this can be explained using Schachter-Singer’s theory. A secure attachment to a caregiver or a parent is associated with the healthy development of a child in aspects such as their emotional, cognitive, linguistic, and social development (Kaya et al., 2020, p. 156). As discussed above, temperament has an impact on the type of attachment a child establishes with the caregivers or parents, and consequently influences their emotional development. The Schachter-Singer theory states that the feelings of emotions and how we exhibit them are influenced by both physiological and cognitive factors (“MCAT Behavioral,” 2020, p. 220). This theory can be used to explain why an infant’s or a child’s temperament may or may not impact attachment and emotional development. For instance, infants may act temperamental or irritated due to the environment in which they are being brought up in. How Attachment Impacts Emotional Development Research conducted in the past shows that a correlation exists between attachment and social-emotional development. According to a study conducted by Martins et al., children and adolescents who have secure attachments are more likely to express higher empathy and socialize more or easily establish relationships (2021, pp. 7-8). Moreover, the researchers also found a strong association between emotional regulation and attachment in children. Children who have secure attachments and better emotional regulation tend to be more empathetic (Martins et al., 2021, p. 7). Moreover, the researchers found that children who have low emotional regulation were more likely to have issues such as attachment security and show a lower level of empathy. On the contrary, children who exhibited a high level of emotional regulation and had healthy attachments were more likely to show higher empathy. Therefore, the quality of attachment impacts social-emotional behaviors and emotional development in children. In another study conducted to investigate social communication in children, the researchers found a relationship between attachment and emotional development. Jethava et al. (2022, pp. 3-5) found that early attachment enhances socio-cognitive, socio-linguistic, and socio-emotional development. Social-cognitive development involves the development of abilities such as self-regulation, while socio-emotional development involves the development of social skills and emotional regulation. The researchers explain that parents and caregivers play a key role since their attachment to children impacts hormones in children, such as oxytocin, that help in socio-emotional development (Jethava et al., 2022, p. 4). Similarly, social-linguistic development is enhanced through proper attachment to parents or caregivers as they help the child learn communication skills. Therefore, attachment is important in enhancing emotional development throughout childhood, considering the cognitive, social, and linguistic development in children. The attachment theory and Erickson’s theory can be used to explain attachment during childhood. The attachment theory states that attachment involves serve-and-return interactions through which the child and the parent or caregiver create a relationship (Jethava et al., 2022, p. 2). These interactions influence cognitive, social, and emotional development throughout childhood. Moreover, Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development involves several stages of development that can be used to describe attachment and emotional development during childhood. The first stage of trust versus mistrust impacts attachment since the child only shows trust and closeness to people who care for them (“The ACA Encyclopedia," 2015, p. 177). Similarly, autonomy versus shame and doubt is another stage that involves emotional and cognitive development as the child tries to control and regulate their motor actions and even thoughts. Hence, Erickson's theory can explain the changes in temperament and socio-emotional development of a child. As explained in the attachment theory, both parenting and attachment styles influence emotional development in children. According to a study done by Mortazavizadeh et al. (2022, pp. 8-9), both the attachment style and the child-caregiver relationship have an impact on the emotional development of children. The attachment theory explains that the relationship between the child and the parent or caregiver impacts the child’s emotional development. The theorists explain that children observe the behaviors of parents and caregivers with whom they have attachment with and learn how to express their emotions. Therefore, having a secure attachment with caregivers or parents contributes to better emotional development for children. Evidence that Does Not Support the Thesis or Argument of the Paper While the thesis of this paper is that temperament influences attachment, Hong and Park agree with this but argue that it may depend on factors such as the parents and social expectations. Factors such as cultural values and norms and parental styles can influence whether a child is considered to be temperamental or not (Hong & Park, 2012, p. 453). A child may be considered as being easy or difficult to deal with, depending on the society or context. Moreover, some researchers have explained contradictory ideas that infant temperament may not necessarily have a negative effect on attachment, even though it may affect the child’s emotional reactivity (Groh et al., 2016, p. 3). The relationship between temperament, attachment, and emotional development is, thus, complicated. The child’s interactions with other people in the family, schools, or other places may differ depending on the social expectations or what behaviors are acceptable. The type of attachment may influence emotional development even for secure attachment. Attachment security leads to a strong attachment between the parent or caregiver and the child. Previous studies show that attachment security is associated with a high level of “social competence and externalizing behaviors” and causes less temperamental attitudes or internalizing behaviors (Groh et al., 2016, p. 19). Externalizing behaviors such as being aggressive may show poor emotional development. Therefore, the type of attachment developed may impact emotional development of the child. Discussion As explained in the paper, findings from previous studies show that temperament impacts attachment and emotional development throughout childhood. Researchers have found that temperament has an impact on the type or level of attachment or relationship a child has with the caregiver or parent (Hong & Park, 2012, pp. 452-453; Kaya et al. 2020, p. 159). Accordingly, the argument made in this paper aligns with the findings in these studies. However, some problems, such as an unacceptable temperamental behavior of the child or poor personality traits of the parent, may lead to attachment insecurity because it will be difficult to establish a good re...