Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the attachment implications of early \nchildhood separations from parents or caregivers, of a group of ten Black South \nAfrican adults, who grew up during the apartheid era. Participants were asked to \nreport on their perceptions and experiences of their childhood separations during \nsemi-structured interviews. These interviews were transcribed and the data analysed \non two levels. Firstly, a thematic content analysis was conducted and six themes were \nidentified. The themes reported on childhood confusion, positive and negative \nexperiences of mothers, memories of separations, reports of experiences of feeling \ndifferent from other children, negative and positive experiences of fathers and men in \nparticipants families, and lastly reflections on participants’ early life, their family life, \ntheir own children and how their experiences impacted on them. Participants reported \nthat if they were unprepared for separation, or the circumstances were traumatic or \nunexpected, the impact was substantial. Also, and in particular, if alternative \ncaregivers were unable to provide sensitive and responsive care, participants’ \nmemories and constructions of these periods are replete with despair. Secondly, \nparticipants’ narratives were analysed for coherence and tentative conclusions drawn \nabout adult attachment style or adult state of mind. There was evidence of participants \nbecoming noticeably less coherent in their narratives when speaking about traumatic \nmemories, particularly in relation to abuse, abandonment and neglect. Out of ten \nparticipants, four presented their narratives in a manner that is suggestive of secure \nand autonomous attachment, with overall coherence of narratives. Three participants’ \nnarratives were suggestive of a dismissing adult attachment style, and the other three \nwere suggestive of a preoccupied adult attachment style. The second level of analysis \nsuggests that quality, stability and continuity in early caretaking relationships are \nrelated to more secure and autonomous adult states of mind.
Author: Francesca Chetwin
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1569707750