Attachment can take place even before the child is born in that the mother may not have wanted the pregnancy. Mothers who are in these situations may unconsciously exhibit the mothering style that creates problems in attachment for the infant later on. Hutching (2011) states, “Clearly the women who find themselves pregnant or who are at risk for unintended pregnancies face many challenges, including a higher risk for pathological anger and rejection of the infant after birth.” (p. 78).
This writer encountered such a situation with a young adult female client who demonstrated an inability to pick up on her infant’s cues shortly after she had given birth. This client was living in a family shelter, already encumbered by housing challenges and poverty that she was exhibiting behaviors of indifference to her newborn child. Being part of the team that was working to provide her and her other children services, we used concepts of the attachment theory to help her understand how important it was for her to bond with her child, as her infant was clearly seeking her warmth and comfort.
Naturally, we were also looking to address not just how she responded as a mother to her child, but also to assist her with the mental challenges she was facing, such as postpartum depression, getting her to receive therapy, providing housing advocacy and assistance with psycho-education in regard to the heavy circumstances she found herself in.
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Fortunately, because interventions had been put in place early on, this infant and mother began to connect, where she became attuned to the needs of her child and responded accordingly. This prevented any type of disruption in placement for her infant, which would have been extremely detrimental to the family as a whole. The most important aspect of attachment theory in practice is that it helps practitioners understand how to keep families together, as long as it is safe to do so.
Another advantage of attachment theory is that though there are cultural differences, it has been found that attachment theory can be applied globally with the understanding that there are cross-cultural distinctions that will not meet the attachment styles delineated by Ainsworth’s experiment (Carlson & Harwood, 2003).
Though attachment theory explains the importance of the mother-child bond, attachment styles vary across all cultures. Different cultures have customs, expressions and behaviors between the mother and child that is not considered within the four attachment styles explain by Ainsworth, Main and Solomon. Much of the background behind the conclusions and explanations of the attachment styles are based on westernized ideologies (Reebye, et al, n.d.). This is a limitation that the Attachment Theory holds and the appropriateness in working with individuals, children and families from different cultures utilizing this perspective has been debated over time.
