Objective: Demonstrate an annotated bibliography for an Attachment Reflection Paper.

Information on Attachment Theory for your Bibliography and Reflective Paper

The following is important information about Attachment Theory that you will need for your bibliography and reflective paper.

Attachment is a key term associated with human development. As founding theorists, such as Freud and Erikson proposed, the early years set the stage for the rest of the life journey. Our first relationships with primary caregivers, especially parents, are pivotal in how we develop from a social and emotional perspective. Most of the focus has been placed on the maternal bond between mother and child through the research of Harry & Margaret Harlow, John Bowlby, and Mary Ainsworth.

The first year of life is critical in establishing one’s attachment style. Children who abused, neglected and/or institutionalized are most vulnerable to insecure, avoidant, and disorganized attachment styles. Attachment is closely associated with the instinct of survival. Infants rely on someone to take care of their every need and when those needs are not met, the consequences can be devastating as well as life-long.

The quality of relationships, self-concept, and even our relationship with God is directly influenced by our attachment style. Mate selection often has much to do with our own attachment style. Consequently, our mate’s attachment style may or may not work well with our own.  People rarely think about the implications of attachment and mate selection. However, it could very well be the reason that so many people divorce. In a perfect world, two secure individuals find each other and spend a lifetime together. However, you probably already know that this does not always happen.

Likewise, parenting styles may also be influenced by attachment. The four main parenting styles are: authoritarian, permissive, negligent, and authoritative. Can you make some connections to how attachment and parenting are related? Can you see how many generations can be either positively or negatively influenced by attachment?

Here are some thoughts to ponder as you think about attachment:

• How can we trust God if we do not have a secure attachment style?
• Is it possible for someone to learn to trust God?
• Can attachment styles change over the course of a lifetime?
• Can someone go from a secure attachment that was developed during infancy to an insecure attachment style later in life? What circumstances might evoke this change?

The following scripture reminds us to not be secure in worldly things, but to keep our eyes and hearts focused on the security of Christ. Regardless of our earthly biography, we can have security in God’s love and blessed assurance of His promises.

Colossians 2: 2-8 (NIV) – “My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.  See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.”

Watch the following videos to gain depth in understanding of human attachment theory. Likewise, you should analyze your attachment to the Lord and how your earthly attachments may impact your spiritual walk.

• Watch Harlow monkey experiments: Individuals and society, MCAT, Khan Academy

• Watch Secure and insecure attachment: Individuals and society, MCAT, Khan Academy
• Watch Attachment theory explain relationship patterns

Read the following articles:

• Read Bowlby’s Attachment Theoryhttps://www.simplypsychology.org/bowlby.html
• Read Mary Ainsworth
• Read Attachment Styles and the Ideal Image of a Mate

Take the Attachment Styles & Close Relationships Questionnaire. Choose Option B:

• Take the questionnaire as an important data gathering tool to look at your own attachment patterns: http://web-research-design.net/cgi-bin/crq/crq.pl . These results will be used to create your Attachment Reflection Essay.

Instructions

You will be doing some “pre-work” on your Attachment Reflection Paper here in Week Two, and also in Weeks Three & Four.

In this assignment, you will create an Annotated Bibliography of 4 scholarly sources that will help develop the Attachment Reflection Essay you will submit in Week Five. You certainly might want a couple of further references but that is your choice. To do the bibliography, you will need to 1) understand the scope of the reflective essay (below) and 2) understand the parameters of attachment theory (also below).

Annotated Bibliography

Offering complete annotations of a given source demonstrates substantive understanding of the text and an integrated awareness of how a given source of evidence will support the writer’s good reasons. The annotations you will complete for this bibliography will be two parts—two paragraphs, one paragraph of summary and one paragraph of analysis. You will complete an annotation for each source you plan to use in your essay.

Format for Annotated Bibliography: There are two parts: summary and analysis.

Summary: One Paragraph

The first paragraph will offer the reader a summary (Summary Guide) of the given text. The summary should clearly outline the major parts of the text through concise and complete language. To summarize means to restate a portion of a text in a shortened form. A summary should bring out the main ideas of the passage, but it does not need to follow the same order as the original text. A summary should be clear, concise, and accurate in representing the original text. Like paraphrased information, summarized information must be accompanied by a citation (Citation Guide), or in-text reference to the source from which you took the information, just as quoted material must be. Failure to provide a citation will be interpreted by others as plagiarism, even if you list the source in your Reference page.

Analysis: One Paragraph

The second part of the annotation will be your analysis of the source, how you will use the source in your essay. Often considered a rather simplistic move, this part of the annotation requires thoughtful reflection of how the given source will be used to support reasons, refute the opposition, or bring about a call to action in the essay.

Example of Annotated Bibliography:

Society for Research in Child Development (2018). The science is clear: Separating families has long-term damaging psychological and health consequences for children, families, and communities.

This article is an overview of the psychological and health consequences of separating children from their family of origin. The authors provide supportive data from World War II that shows the damaging effects of separating a child from their family. This article examines how separation is considered a ‘toxic stressor’ that impacts a child long after a child has been reunited with their family. The separation event is so traumatic that it upsets the body’s stress management system. This article also illustrates a topic related to current events: children being separated from their parents at the border of the United States and the controversy related to the long-term impacts of those separations. (summary)

This article offers new insights into attachment and separation anxiety. One of the perspectives that I found that might be useful in writing my argument is on pg. 2; lines 14-20. Much research has been performed on separation and attachment of young children. However, these authors propose that puberty is another vulnerable time period. This article might also prove useful if I need to support that consequences were felt long after reunification with parents. This information is also located on pg.2; lines 16-25. The science is clear – long-term psychological, social, and health consequences can be felt across the lifespan if children are separated from their parents. It was interesting to learn that negative events, even outside the early years, could have such a negative, life-long impact on one’s stress management system. The biggest assumption challenged was that the consequences reached beyond psychological damage and could impact one’s overall health status later in life. (analysis)

• Follow the above example paragraphs to formulate your own annotated bibliography. Remember, your articles should focus on attachment theory or attachment style. For each article, you will have a summary and analysis paragraph. Students will research and review four scholarly articles and write an annotated bibliography for all four articles.  Submit as one document.
• Scan your annotated bibliography through Grammarly. Correct your errors and enable the plagiarism checker (magnifying glass icon) to check for originality issues. Submit your  second  Grammarly report showing your corrected document. Submit your bibliography to the drop box titled Annotated Bibliography for your instructor to grade.