Attachment, Regulation, and the Development of Coping

One of the foundational claims of attachment theory is that an important function of early relationships is to support a child’s use of an adult to appropriately regulate emotions in times of stress (Ainsworth et al., 1978/2015). In this chapter, we review evidence that attachment behavior in infancy, and attachment security in adolescence and adulthood, are associated with adaptive coping, defined as volitional strategies for managing stress. Overall, it appears that more secure attachments are associated with more adaptive coping behaviors. However, this review of the literature suggests that various forms of insecure attachment do not appear to differentially predict maladaptive coping behaviors. Furthermore, although some limited research shows that infant attachment is associated with coping behaviors, it is unclear whether the constructs of attachment behavior and coping in infancy and early childhood are truly distinct. Implications for future research and the importance of theoretical refinement are discussed.