The goal of this special issue is to take stock of attachment theory and research as it applies to adolescent and adult relationships. We briefly summarize and comment on the 12 articles included in the issue, placing them into four thematic categories: (i) attachment theory and research viewed from a life history perspective; (ii) biological bases of attachment processes; (iii) relations between the attachment system and other behavioral systems; and (iv) extensions of attachment research in applied directions. Taken together, the 12 articles provide an exciting foundation for future research on attachment and further development of attachment theory.
Ainsworth, M.D.S. ( 1991). Attachment and other affectional bonds across the life cycle. In C. M. Parkes, J. Stevenson-Hinde, & P. Marris (Eds.), Attachment across the life cycle (pp. 33-51). New York: Routledge.
2.
Ainsworth, M.D.S., Blehar, M.C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. ( 1978). Patterns of attachment: Assessed in the Strange Situation and at home. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum .
3.
Bowlby, J. ( 1979). The making and breaking of affectional bonds. London: Tavistock.
4.
Bowlby, J. ( 1982). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment (2nd ed.). New York: Basic Books. (Orig. ed. 1969.)
5.
Bowlby, J. ( 1988). A secure base: Clinical applications of attachment theory . London: Routledge.
6.
Cicirelli, V.G. ( 1993). Attachment and obligation as daughters’ motives for caregiving behavior and subsequent effect on subjective burden. Psychology and Aging, 8, 144-155.
7.
Cicirelli, V.G. ( 2004). God as the ultimate attachment figure for older adults . Attachment and Human Development, 6, 371-388.
8.
Fox, N.A., & Hane, A.A. ( 2008). Studying the biology of human attachment. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 217-240). New York: Guilford Press.
9.
Gailliot, M.T. ( 2009). The effortful and energy-demanding nature of prosocial behavior. In M. Mikulincer & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Prosocial motives, emotions, and behavior: The better angels of our nature (pp. 169-180). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association .
10.
Gailliot, M.T., & Baumeister, R.F. (2007). The physiology of willpower: Linking blood glucose to self-control. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11, 303-327.
11.
Gottman, J.M., & Levenson, R.W. (1992). Marital processes predictive of later dissolution: Behavior, physiology, and health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 221-233.
12.
Hazan, C., & Shaver, P.R. ( 1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 511-524.
13.
Hazan, C., & Zeifman, D. ( 1994). Sex and the psychological tether. In K. Bartholomew & D. Perlman (Eds.), Advances in personal relationships: Attachment processes in adulthood (Vol. 5, pp. 151-177). London: Jessica Kingsley.
14.
Hesse, E. ( 2008). The Adult Attachment Interview: Protocol, method of analysis, and empirical studies. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 552-598). New York: Guilford Press.
15.
Main, M., & Solomon, J. ( 1990). Procedures for identifying infants as disorganized/disoriented during the Ainsworth strange situation. In M. T. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & M. Cummings (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research, and intervention (pp. 121-160). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
16.
Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P.R. ( 2007). Attachment in adulthood: Structure, dynamics, and change . New York: Guilford Press.
17.
Polan, H.J., & Hofer, M.A. ( 2008). Psychobiological origins of infant attachment and its role in development. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 158-172). New York: Guilford Press.
18.
Reis, H.T., & Shaver, P.R. ( 1988). Intimacy as an interpersonal process. In S. Duck (Ed.), Handbook of research in personal relationships (pp. 367-389). London: Wiley.
19.
Simpson, J.A., & Belsky, J. ( 2008). Attachment theory within a modern evolutionary framework . In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 131-157). New York: Guilford Press.
