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Major Movements in Psychology

Attachment Theory

Is your attachment status fixed by the time you’re one year old?

Attachment research is sometimes interpreted as implying that personality is entirely formed by the time that a child is one year old. Attachment strategies are conservative, that is they are resistant to change, but they are not fixed. If the family environment remains stable and the parent-child interaction patterns do not change dramatically, it is likely that the child’s general approach to attachment will remain stable. On the other hand, if the family environment changes dramatically or if the parent chooses to change his or her way of relating to the child, the child’s attachment status can change.