Editing Attachment theory (section)

== Crime ==
Attachment theory has often been applied in the discipline of [[criminology]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ranu |first1=Jasmin |last2=Kalebic |first2=Natasha |last3=Melendez-Torres |first3=G. J. |last4=Taylor |first4=Pamela J. |date=2022-09-17 |title=Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and a Combination of Psychosis and Violence Among Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/15248380221122818 |journal=Trauma, Violence, & Abuse |volume=24 |issue=5 |language=en |pages=2997–3013 |doi=10.1177/15248380221122818 |pmid=36117458 |s2cid=252363546 |issn=1524-8380}}</ref> It has been used in an attempt to identify causal mechanisms in criminal behaviour – with uses ranging from [[offender profiling]], better understanding types of offence and the pursuit of preventative policy. It has been found that disturbances early on in child-caregiver relationships are a risk factor in criminality. Attachment theory in this context has been described as "perhaps the most influential of contemporary psychoanalytically oriented theories of crime".<ref>{{cite book |title=Psychology and Crime: An Introduction to Criminological Psychology |last=Hollin |first=Clive R. |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |location=USA & Canada |pages=62}}</ref>

=== History ===
The origins of attachment theory within criminology can be found in the work of [[August Aichhorn]]. In applying psychoanalysis to [[pedagogy]], he argued that abnormal child relationships are the underlying problem causing delinquency.<ref>{{cite book |title=Wayward Youth |url=https://archive.org/details/waywardyouth0000aich_y0c9 |last=Aichhorn |first=August |publisher=The Viking Press |year=1935 |location=the University of Michigan}}</ref>

The intersection of crime and attachment theory was further researched by John Bowlby. In his first published work, ''Forty-four Juvenile Thieves'', he studied a sample of 88 children (44 juvenile thieves and 44 non-delinquent controls) and determined that child-mother separation caused delinquent character formation, particularly in the development of an "affectionless character" often seen in the persistent offender. 17 of the juvenile thieves had been separated from their mothers for longer than six months during their first five years, and only 2 children from the control group had such a separation. He also found that 14 of the thieves were "affectionless characters" distinguishing them from others by their lack of affection, no emotional ties, no real friendships, and having "no roots in their relationships".<ref name=":2">{{cite journal |last=Bowlby |first=John |date=Jan 1, 1944 |title=Forty-four Juvenile Thieves: their Characters and Home-Life |journal=International Journal of Psycho-Analysis |volume=25}}</ref>

=== Age distribution of crime ===
Two theories about why the crime peaks around the late teenage years and early twenties are called the developmental theory and life-course theory, and both involve attachment theory. Developmental perspectives argue that individuals who have disrupted childhood attachments will have criminal careers that continue long into adulthood.<ref name=":4">{{cite journal | vauthors = Moffitt TE, Caspi A | title = Childhood predictors differentiate life-course persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial pathways among males and females | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_development-and-psychopathology_spring-2001_13_2/page/355 | journal = Development and Psychopathology | volume = 13 | issue = 2 | pages = 355–75 | date = 2001 | pmid = 11393651 | doi = 10.1017/S0954579401002097 | s2cid = 29182035 }}</ref> [[Life course approach|Life course perspectives]] argue that relationships at every stage of the life course can influence an individual's likelihood of committing crimes.<ref name=":5">{{cite journal |vauthors=Sampson RJ, Laub JH |date=2005 |title=A Life-Course View of the Development of Crime |journal=Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |volume=602 |pages=12–45 |doi=10.1177/0002716205280075 |s2cid=45146032}}</ref>

=== Types of offences ===
Disrupted attachment patterns from childhood have been identified as a risk factor for domestic violence.<ref name=":6">{{cite web | vauthors = Gilchrist E, Johnson R, Takriti R, Weston S, Anthony Beech A, Kebbell M | url = http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/r217.pdf | archive-url = http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110218141158/http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/r217.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2011-02-18 | title = Domestic Violence offenders: characteristics and offending related needs | date = 2003 | work = Research, Development and Statistics Directorate | publisher = United Kingdom Home Office | access-date = 2019-03-29 }}</ref> These disruptions in childhood can prevent the formation of a secure attachment relationship, and in turn adversely affecting a healthy way to deal with stress.<ref name=":7">{{cite journal |last1=Kesner |first1=John E. |last2=Julian |first2=Teresa |last3=McKenry |first3=Patrick C. |date=1997-06-01 |title=Application of Attachment Theory to Male Violence Toward Female Intimates |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-family-violence_1997-06_12_2/page/211 |journal=Journal of Family Violence |language=en |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=211–228 |doi=10.1023/A:1022840812546 |s2cid=26203922 |issn=1573-2851}}</ref> In adulthood, lack of coping mechanisms can result in violent behaviour.<ref>{{cite book |title=Frustration and aggression |url=https://archive.org/details/frustrationaggre00doll |last1=Dollard |first1=John |last2=Miller |first2=Neal E. |last3=Doob |first3=Leonard W. |last4=Mowrer |first4=O. H. |last5=Sears |first5=Robert R. |date=1939 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |doi=10.1037/10022-000}}</ref> Bowlby's theory of functional anger states that children signal to their caregiver that their attachment needs are not being met by use of angry behaviour. This perception of low support from partner has been identified as a strong predictor of male violence. Other predictors have been named as perceived deficiency in maternal love in childhood, low self-esteem.<ref name=":7" /> It has also been found that individuals with a dismissive attachment style, often seen in an antisocial/narcissistic-narcissistic subtype of offender, tend to be emotionally abusive as well as violent. Individuals in the borderline/emotionally dependent subtype have traits which originate from insecure attachment in childhood, and tend to have high levels of anger.<ref name=":6" />

It has been found that sexual offenders have significantly less secure maternal and paternal attachments compared with non-offenders which suggests that insecure attachments in infancy persist into adulthood.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Smallbone S, Dadds M  |date=October 1998 |title=Childhood Attachment and Adult Attachment in Incarcerated Adult Male Sex Offenders |journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence |volume=13 5}}</ref> In a recent study, 57% of sexual offenders were found to be of a preoccupied attachment style.<ref>{{cite book |title=What Works in Therapeutic Prisons | vauthors = Brown J, Miller S, Northey S, O'Neill D |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-137-30620-3 |location=London |chapter=Attachments: The Multiple Sorting Task Procedure |doi=10.1057/9781137306210}}</ref> There is also evidence that suggests subtypes of sexual crime can have different attachment styles. Dismissive individuals tend to be hostile towards others, and are more likely to offend violently against adult women. By contrast, child abusers are more likely to have preoccupied attachment styles as the tendency to seek approval from others becomes distorted and attachment relationships become sexualized.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ward T, Beech A |date=2006 |title=An integrated theory of sexual offending |journal=Aggression and Violent Behavior |volume=11 |pages=44–63 |doi=10.1016/j.avb.2005.05.002}}</ref>

=== Uses within probation practice ===
Attachment theory has been of special interest within probation settings. When put into practice, probation officers aim to learn their probationer's attachment history because it can give them insight into how the probationer will respond to different scenarios and when they are the most vulnerable to reoffend. One of the primary strategies of implementation is to set up the probation officer as a secure base. This secure base relationship is formed by the probation officer being reliable, safe, and in tune with the probationer, and is intended to help give them a partly representational secure relationship that they have not been able to form.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ansbro |first=Maria |date=September 2022 |title=Using attachment theory in probation practice |url=https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2022/09/v2.0-Academic-Insights-Ansbro-Sep-22.pdf |access-date=17 April 2024 |website=justiceinspectorates.gov.uk}}</ref>