Attachment Theory and Research

A detailed account of the classic Minnesota longitudinal study, including its theoretically driven focus on important developmental at different time‐points tasks and its key findings. A summary paper was also published by Sroufe as: L. A. Sroufe (2005). Attachment and development: A prospective, longitudinal study from birth to adulthood. Attachment & Human Development , 7 (4), 349–367.

1 Jeremy Holmes and Arietta Slade (2018). Attachment in therapeutic practice. SAGE.

One of the best books discussing the implications of attachment theory and research for psychotherapeutic practice.

1 Vivien Prior & Danya Glaser (2006). Understanding attachment and attachment disorders: theory, evidence and practice. Jessica Kingsley Press.

The best existing textbook outlining attachment theory and research. However, the book is over ten years old, so there are important subsequent developments not covered here.

1 Howard Steele and Miriam Steele (Eds.). (2018) Handbook of attachment‐based interventions. Guilford.

A very helpful overview of the multiplicity of attachment‐based interventions and evidence regarding their respective effectiveness.

1 Omri Gillath, Gery C. Karantzas, & R. Chris Fraley (2016). Adult attachment: A concise introduction to theory and research. Academic Press.

A comprehensive overview of theory and findings from the social psychological tradition of attachment research, set out in an accessible Question & Answer format.

1 K. E. Grossmann, K. Grossmann, & E. Waters (Eds.). (2006). Attachment from infancy to adulthood: The major longitudinal studies. Guilford Press.

A good overview of classic attachment research, with chapters presenting and discussing key findings from the first wave of major longitudinal studies to include attachment assessments.

1 Patricia Crittenden (2016). Raising parents, 2nd edn. Routledge.

A lively starting point for engaging with the Dynamic Maturational Model of attachment and its clinical applications. An anthology of Crittenden’s papers is also available: A. Landini, C. Baim, M. Hart, & S. Landa (Eds.). (2015). Danger, development and adaptation: seminal papers on the Dynamic‐Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation . Brighton, UK: Waterside Press.

1 David Howe (2011). Attachment across the lifecourse. Palgrave Macmillan.

An excellent overview of the findings of attachment research as relevant to different periods in the human life course. A strength is that the book is written clearly, and can easily be read by a non‐specialist. It does not generally take much of a critical perspective on the research or theory.

1 Robert Karen (1994). Becoming attached. Oxford University Press.

A readable and engaging introduction to the first generation of attachment researchers. Less scholarly, more journalistic.

1 Frank van der Horst (2011). John Bowlby: From psychoanalysis to ethology: Unravelling the roots of attachment theory. Blackwell .

A meticulous intellectual biography of John Bowlby, covering his intellectual journey towards ethology as a main source of theoretical inspiration.

1 Jude Cassidy & Phillip Shaver (2018). Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications, 3rd edn. Guilford.

A terrific, comprehensive account of attachment research that covers all the key topics in the “developmental” and “social psychology” traditions, with chapters written by leading experts.

1 Mario Mikulincer & Phillip R. Shaver (2016). Attachment in adulthood, 2nd edn. Guilford.

A comprehensive integration of research in the social psychology tradition of attachment research.

1 Ainsworth, M. (1968). Letter to John Bowlby, 27th April 1968. Wellcome Collections John Bowlby Archive, PP/Bow/K.4/12.

2 Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. N. ([1978] 2015).Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Psychology Press.

3 Ainsworth, M. S., & Bowlby, J. (1991). An ethological approach to personality development. American psychologist, 46(4), 333–341.

4 Belsky, J., & Rovine, M. (1987). Temperament and attachment security in the strange situation: An empirical rapprochement. Child Development, 58, 787–795.

5 Bowlby, J. (1940). The influence of early environment in the development of neuroses and neurotic character. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 21, 154–178.

6 Bowlby, J. (1951). Maternal care and mental health (Vol. 2). World Health Organization.

7 Bowlby, J. (1969/1982). Attachment and loss: Attachment. Pimlico.

8 Bowlby, J. (1987) Baby Love. Hampstead and Highgate Express, April 3, 1987.

9 Bowlby, J. (1988). Developmental psychiatry comes of age. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 1–10.

10 Bowlby, J., Robertson, J., & Rosenbluth, D. (1952). A two‐year‐old goes to hospital. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 7(1), 82–94.

11 Cassidy, J. & Shaver, P. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (3rd edn.). Guilford Press.

12 Dagan, O., & Sagi‐Schwartz, A. (2018). Early attachment network with mother and father: An unsettled issue. Child Development Perspectives, 12(2), 115–121.

13 Department for Education (2018). Children in need of help and protection: Call for evidence. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/children‐in‐need‐of‐help‐and‐protection‐call‐for‐evidence

14 Duschinsky, R. (2020) Cornerstones of attachment research. Oxford University Press.

15 Duschinsky, R., Bakkum, L., Mannes, J., Skinner, G., Turner, M., Mann, A., Coughlan, B., Reijman, S., Foster, S., & Beckwith, H. (2020). Six attachment discourses: Convergence, divergence and relay. Attachment and Human Development, Forthcoming.

16 Gerhardt, S. (2014) Why love matters: How affection shapes a baby’s brain (2nd edn.). Routledge.

17 Fonagy, P., & Higgitt, A. (2004). Early mental health intervention and prevention: The implications for government and the wider community. In B. Sklarew, S. W. Twemlow, & S. M. Wilkinson (Eds.), Analysts in the trenches: Streets, schools, war zones (pp. 257–309). Analytic Press.

18 Forslund, T., Granqvist, P., van IJzendoorn, M. H., Sagi‐Schwartz, A., Glaser, D., Steele, M., Hammarlund, M., Schuengel, C., Bakermans‐Kranenburg, M. J., Steele, H., Shaver, P. R., Lux, U., Simmonds, J., Jacobvitz, D., Groh, A. M., Bernard, K., Cyr, C., Hazen, N. L., Foster, S., … & Duschinsky, R. (2021). Attachment goes to court: Child protection and custody issues. Attachment & Human Development, 1–52.

19 Fraley, R., & Spieker, S. (2003). Are infant attachment patterns continuously or categorically distributed? A taxometric analysis of strange situation behavior. Developmental Psychology, 39(3), 387–404.

20 Furnivall, J., McKenna, M., McFarlane, S., & Grant, E. (2012). Attachment matters for all: An attachment mapping exercise for children’s services in Scotland. Centre for Excellence for Looked after Children in Scotland (CELCIS). www.celcis.org/knowledge‐bank/search‐bank/attachment‐matters‐all

21 Goldberg, S. (2000). Attachment and development. London: Routledge.

22 Granqvist, P., Sroufe, L. A., Dozier, M., Hesse, E., Steele, M., van IJzendoorn, M., Solomon, J., Schuengel, C., Fearon, P., Bakermans‐Kranenburg, M., Steele, H., Cassidy, J., Carlson, E., Madigan, S., Jacobvitz, D., Foster, S., Behrens, K., Rifkin‐Graboi, A., Gribneau, N., … & Duschinsky, R. (2017). Disorganized attachment in infancy: A review of the phenomenon and its implications for clinicians and policy‐makers. Attachment & Human Development, 19, 534–558.

23 House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee (2019). First 1000 days of life. Thirteenth report of session 2017–2019. HC 1496. Health and Social Care Committee.