A Lifespan Development Theory of Insecure Attachment and Internalizing Symptoms: Integrating Meta-Analytic Evidence via a Testable Evolutionary Mis/Match Hypothesis

Abstract

Attachment scholars have long argued that insecure attachment patterns are associated with vulnerability to internalizing symptoms, such as depression and anxiety symptoms. However, accumulating evidence from the past four decades, summarized in four large meta-analyses evaluating the link between insecure attachment subtypes and internalizing symptoms, provide divergent evidence for this claim. This divergent evidence may be accounted for, at least in part, by the developmental period under examination. Specifically, children with histories of deactivating (i.e., insecure/avoidant) but not hyperactivating (i.e., insecure/resistant) attachment patterns in infancy and early childhood showed elevated internalizing symptoms. In contrast, adolescents and adults with hyperactivating (i.e., insecure/preoccupied) but not deactivating (i.e., insecure/dismissing) attachment classifications showed elevated internalizing symptoms. In this paper, we summarize findings from four large meta-analyses and highlight the divergent meta-analytic findings that emerge across different developmental periods. We first present several potential methodological issues that may have contributed to these divergent findings. Then, we leverage clinical, developmental, and evolutionary perspectives to propose a testable lifespan development theory of attachment and internalizing symptoms that integrates findings across meta-analyses. According to this theory, subtypes of insecure attachment patterns may be differentially linked to internalizing symptoms depending on their mis/match with the developmentally appropriate orientation tendency toward caregivers (in childhood) or away from them (i.e., toward greater independence in post-childhood). Lastly, we offer future research directions to test this theory.