Background: Attachment theory [Bowlby, J. 1969, 1973, 1980 Attachment & Loss, Volumes I-III, London: Hogarth Press] proposes that a person’s experiences of care in infancy and childhood lay the foundations for their internal working models of themselves and others. Inconsistent, unpredictable or hostile caregiving can lead individuals to hold negative internal working models which can impact on their mental health later in life. Many looked after and accommodated young people have experienced this type of neglectful or abusive parenting. These experiences of parenting may lead looked after young people to have internal working models of themselves as ineffective and of others as powerful, thus leading them to develop a learned helplessness and a more external locus of control. Objectives: A systematic review was carried out in order to explore the mechanisms by which the relationship between attachment and depression functions in adolescence. An empirical study aimed to investigate whether young people with negative attachment experiences, those who are looked after and accommodated, have higher levels of depression or a more external locus of control than other young people of the same age and the role these play in their future thinking. Method: Nineteen papers investigating mediators and moderators of the attachmentdepression relationship in adolescence were reviewed. In the empirical study, a group of looked after and a group of non-looked after young people aged 15-18 were asked about their approach and avoidance goals for the future and were asked to rate beliefs in their control over, and likelihood of, achieving these goals. Results: Evidence was found for a number of mediators of the relationship between attachment and adolescent depression. There were also found to be significant differences between the two groups with differing care histories with regards to levels of depression and locus of control, with looked after young people having higher levels of depression and a more external locus of control. A mediation analysis found that locus of control mediated the relationship between looked after status and future thinking. Conclusions: A person’s attachment history and experiences of care in early childhood can impact on their levels of depression and locus of control. There are a number of factors which mediate or moderate the attachment-depression relationship, most of which can be attributed to an individual’s internal working model of either themselves or others. Locus of control plays a critical role in young people’s future thinking and professionals working with accommodated adolescents should facilitate these young people to have experiences which will help to increase the internality of their locus of control. Objective: Attachment security has been found to be a significant predictor of depression in adolescence. This review aimed to examine the pathways by which this relationship functions by reviewing studies which have investigated potential mediating or moderating factors. Method: Studies were included if they investigated mediation and/or moderation of the relationship between attachment and adolescent depression. Results: A number of cognitive and social factors were found to mediate the attachmentdepression relationship. Age was found to be a significant moderator of the relationship but the findings on gender were inconsistent. The findings should be treated with caution, however, as many of the studies reviewed were potentially underpowered. Conclusions: A model is proposed in which mediating factors were linked to the internal working models of self and others. The need for future research to be carried out in clinical adolescent populations with sample sizes large enough to ensure adequate power was identified.

Inledning Den teoretiska utgångspunkten i studien är Bowlbys anknytningsteori som visar tillsammans med aktuell forskning att barn som har en trygg anknytning utvecklas bättre kognitivt och känslomässigt. För att kunna skapa en trygg anknytning krävs det förskollärare med kunskap kring ämnet för att veta vilka förutsättningar som krävs för att kunna skapa en trygg anknytning. Syfte Syftet med studien är att beskriva förskollärares uppfattningar om barns anknytning till personalen i förskolan. Frågeställningar • Hur beskriver förskollärarna att de arbetar med barns anknytning i förskolan? • Vilka förutsättningar enligt förskollärarna krävs för att barn ska skapa en trygg anknytning inom förskolan? • Kan barnens anknytning till förskollärarna påverka dem under deras förskoletid? I så fall på vilket sätt anser förskollärarna att anknytningen kan påverkar barnen? Metod I studien har kvalitativ metod använts med semistrukturerade intervjuer. Fem förskollärare som har både längre och kortare erfarenheter av arbete i förskolan. Resultat Flera av förskollärarna nämner att de arbetar aktivt med anknytning vid inskolning. Dock är det endast några som nämner hur de arbetar med anknytning efter inskolningsperioden. Förskollärarna beskriver några viktiga förutsättningar för att kunna hjälpa barn skapa en trygg anknytning i förskolans verksamhet. Förutsättningarna är utbildning, förskolemiljö och verksamhetens innehåll. Andra uppfattningar som förskollärarna benämner vid arbetet med anknytning är hur förhållningssättet till föräldrarna och bekräftelser av känslor kan påverka barnens anknytning och flera av förskollärarna nämner hur deras tillvägagångsätt vid inskolning kan påverka barnens anknytning.

One of the most profound transformations of the marketing discipline in recent history has been driven by the democratization of power relations and value creation between brands and consumers. This dissertation explores the branding implications of this fundamental shift by investigating whether and how the type and degree of control shared by brands affect consumer empowerment perceptions and, in turn, consumer–brand relationships, as well as whether and how these effects might be moderated by the size and diversity of the choice set and by the image valence of the brand that shares control with consumers. The present research examines such questions in a prosocial context by studying an emerging form of co-created social responsibility, cause-related marketing (CM) with choice, in which the consumer, not the brand, chooses the charitable cause to which the brand will donate in response to the consumer’s purchase. By integrating research on power, choice, and brand relationships, this dissertation proposes a conceptual framework that predicts whether, when, and why giving consumers control over a brand’s meaningful decision (operationalized as CM with choice) strengthens consumer–brand relationships. Six experiments test this framework. The dissertation shows that letting consumers choose a brand’s donation recipient strengthens consumer–brand relationships by increasing consumer empowerment and engagement. This serial mediation through empowerment and engagement is replicated across all studies. The main effect can be bolstered by providing consumers either unrestricted choice (i.e., choose any cause from memory) rather than restricted choice (i.e., select from a list of predetermined cause options; Studies 1–4) or a combination of both choice modes (Study 4), but not by expanding the size of the set of cause options (Study 2) or increasing the similarity or dissimilarity of the options (Studies 3a and 3b). Finally, Study 5 reveals that introducing a conventional CM campaign improves brand outcomes (attachment, attitudes, and purchase intentions) regardless of brand image (negative, neutral, or positive) and that adding consumer cause choice to the campaign benefits brands as much as (or more than) introducing the campaign itself does, though only when brand image is neutral or positive. When brand image is negative, adding consumer cause choice fails to improve brand outcomes and can even backfire—a boundary condition similar to the boomerang effect that arises from psychological reactance because consumers prefer to keep their distance. A central implication of this dissertation is that when a brand allows consumers to co-create its charitable giving campaign, neither the choice set’s size or diversity nor consumers’ involvement or satisfaction with the chosen cause brings consumers closer to the brand; instead, what brings them closer to the brand is their increased sense of empowerment, which in turn enhances their engagement with the brand that shares its control. An equally important implication results from the observed boomerang effect, which should serve as a warning for any managers who risk falling into the trap of adopting a standard, one-size-fits-all view of prosocial co-creation as a tool to repair an otherwise defective brand reputation. A strategy that encourages consumers to serve as brand agents by co-creating the brand’s meaning requires caution on the brand’s part. As in interpersonal relationships, the general desire to spend time together must first be at least somewhat mutual before any shared experience—no matter how positive—can make the bond grow stronger.

Studien ämnar undersöka om människor med ADHD uppvisar en högre prevalens av otrygg anknytning (enligt testet ASQ) än normalbefolkningen. Metoden som har använts för att mäta detta är en internetbaserad självskattningsenkät; Attachment Style Questionnaire, ASQ, som är ett test som mäter olika kateogier av relationella mönster baserade på anknytningsteori. Testresultatet indikerar en hög förekomst av otrygg anknytning (95 %) i den undersökta gruppen. Med tanke på begränsningar I validiteten främst på grund av endast användningen av enbart ett test för mätning och på grund av att ASQ mäter relationella aspekter i en individ så undersöker studien först och främst resultatet av relationella mönster i gruppen ADHD. / This study aims is to explore if people diagnosed with ADHD show a higher frequency of insecure attachment (according to the test ASQ) than the normal population. The method used is an internet-based self report survey; Attachment Style Qeustionnaire, ASQ, which is a test that measures different categories of relational patterns based on attachment theory. The test results indicate a high frequency of insecure attachment scores (95%) in the measured sample. Regarding limitations in validity using only one method of measuring, and ASQ beeing a test for measuring relational patterns, the study only claim to present results of ”relational styles” in the AD/HD sample.

The goal of this research was to explore cohort differences in the role of communication in romantic relationships throughout the lifespan. This project explored the direct and indirect effects of attachment styles (i.e., anxious, avoidant) and negative communication patterns (i.e., Gottman's four horsemen: criticism, defensiveness, contempt, stonewalling) on commitment levels, psychosocial outcomes, attitudes toward union transitions (i.e., marriage, divorce, cohabitation), reasons for divorce, and reasons for delaying divorce as a direct function of experience with marital biographies. A marital biography refers to the history or experiences with union transitions in romantic relationships. A secondary aim is to test differences in these same variables as a function of direct experience with divorce moderated by age at the first divorce. Participants, including young divorced adults between ages 18-49 (N = 162) and gray adults ages 50+ (N = 96), completed a survey with measures including attachment, communication practices, commitment, attitudes toward union transitions, psychosocial outcomes, reasons for divorce, and reasons for delaying divorce. The results indicated that, insecure attachment styles and Gottman's four horsemen are predictive of divorce, with stonewalling being an aggravating factor, particularly for anxious attachment styles, and the risk for divorce. The experience of union transitions, especially divorce, affect how we approach future romantic relationships in addition to altering psychosocial outcomes, personal, moral, and structural commitment. Gender differences were found in divorced participants’ personal and moral commitment, psychosocial outcomes, and reasons for divorce. Age at first divorce-related differences were present in participants' structural commitment, reasons for divorce, length of delay, and reasons for delaying divorce. Even though age at first divorce was not a moderating factor, it still played an important role in reasons leading up to and outcomes of divorce.

M.A. / Most people learn communication and behavioral skills in their families, which means the learning that takes place in the family of origin will affect how children learn to deal with conflict in adult life. People form the basis of their coping skills in early childhood, either through modeling or cognitive awareness, or in the case of inappropriate behaviour, through distortions. This means that communication skills and conflict styles that are acquired early in childhood might be perpetuated when these children become adults and marry. Several studies have been conducted on conflict styles and the family of origin. However, very little is available on the application of conflict styles learnt in the family of origin and the impact they may have in the marriage of progeny children. This pilot study attempts to address this aspect. This investigation examines whether the conflict styles experienced or perceived in the family of origin have any bearing on how progeny children deal with conflict in their own marriages. A quantitative pilot study of fourteen couples was undertaken in which each couple completed two questionnaires. The first one related to how the couples themselves deal with conflict, the second focussed on how they perceive that their parents dealt with conflict. The theoretical model used to describe the structure of the family and its interconnectedness is systems theory. Social cognitive learning theory is examined in terms of how behaviour is learnt and attachment theory examines different types of attachment and the hypothesised resultant behaviours. The results of the study indicated that there was a significant difference between the couples’ and their parents’ conflict styles, on some of the variables measured. The differences recorded were in terms of how couples deal with conflict in their marriage, as opposed to how they perceived their parents to deal with conflict in their own marriages. It can be hypothesised that the conflict styles couples perceived their parents to use did impact on the styles they used in their own marriage. In some cases however, they felt that they improved on the style perceived, instead of simply perpetuating the cycle they had experienced.

M.A. / This exploratory study drew primarily upon narrative interviews and projective tests and secondarily on collateral information taken from case files from a small sample of adolescents who were institutionalised as a result of neglect and abuse. The aim of this study was to explore and develop a better understanding of the nature of attachment patterns of institutionalised adolescents by looking at how attachment abuse, maternal deprivation and institutionalisation can be detrimental to forming close relationships. The data from the clinical interviews, the Sentence Completion Test and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) were subjected to a thematic content analytical process. The Kinetic Family Drawing Test (KFD) was analysed using Kaplan and Main’s classification system for children’s family drawings. The Draw-a-Person Test (DAP) was analysed qualitatively, using various literature on interpreting human figure drawings but largely drawing on Machover’s interpretive system. No quantitative analyses were used in this study. The results yielded a wide range of themes related to the attachment patterns of children in children’s homes. The results of the study clearly highlighted the attachment needs of adolescents. The overall themes present in the tests are of rejection, abandonment, isolation and deprivation. The results indicated that older children who have been separated from their caregivers and placed in a children’s home because they were abused, neglected or maternally deprived, tend to be insecurely attached. The literature highlights the importance of adequate caregiving that is necessary for the child to develop a healthy sense of self and the implications if this is absent.

This thesis examines how changes to rural places and landscapes are experienced by residents and incorporated into place attachments and identities over time. It does so through exploring findings from seventy-eight qualitative, ‘emplaced’, oral history interviews in three English villages: Mullion (Cornwall); Askam and Ireleth (Cumbria); and Martham (Norfolk). These villages are located near to at least one existing windfarm, which – as an example of rural change - provides a common focus for the research. The research is informed by a ‘middle-ground’ theoretical approach that considers discursive and experiential aspects of people-environment relationships and pays particular attention to how engagements with the past are enrolled in shaping experiences of landscape, place and change. Attitudes towards rural place-change are identified as being shaped by four complex, relational facets, viz: i) discursive interpretations of rural place, (post)nature and temporality; ii) experiential factors; iii) assessments of utility; and iv) local contexts. The thesis draws these together into a conceptual framework that helps guide analyses of place-change experiences. The framework’s value is demonstrated through applying it to the example of windfarms. The results reveal perceptions to be complex and multifarious but suggest that changes can be incorporated into place attachments and identities so long as highly-valued place assets are not harmed. The research makes a valuable contribution to geography by enhancing understandings about everyday rural lives and experiences; and revealing parallels between academic and lay discourses about landscape, ‘nature’ and place-temporality. It also adds to the considerable literature on perceptions of renewable energy by providing insights into attitudes towards windfarms at the post-construction, rather than proposal, stage.

Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) in the form of wave, tidal and offshore wind has emerged as a potentially major component of strategies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and combat climate change. One factor influencing the implementation of MRE technologies is acceptance by people living near developments. This study investigated (i) attitudes towards MRE in small island communities as likely host communities for MRE developments; (ii) the underlying factors and values shaping these attitudes; (iii) how communities viewed MRE with regard to their place attachments; (iv) the inclusion of communities attitudes into MRE decision-making; and (v) contributions to policy and practice of MRE development. Data were collected using a mixed-methods approach, employing questionnaire surveys and interviews in three case study communities: 1) the Orkney Islands in Scotland which have considerable experience with MRE; 2) the Shetland Islands, also a Scottish community but with somewhat less experience; and 3) the Isles of Scilly, an English community with limited MRE experience. These study sites provided an opportunity to examine attitudes towards MRE in areas with different levels of MRE experience and differing government administrations and consenting procedures, thus offering novel insights into how local contexts shape attitudes towards MRE. The theoretical position adopted was place attachment, and the study made steps towards understanding how place attachment processes operate when people evaluate MRE development locally. Processes of place attachment were found to be based on a continuous flow of interactions between people and places based on an evaluation of what happens in specific local contexts and how these are valued against sets of local priorities and preferences. The study found generally positive attitudes towards MRE, and identified local context, place-based values and the perceived effects of MRE as dominant in shaping support. The study thus found two important contributors that shaped attitudes: (i) local references and influences through which people observed issues, including socio-historical references, relational factors, and pragmatic factors, and (ii) local values, through which MRE was evaluated, which were established by residents based on evaluations of local characteristics, and how they related to strategies to maintain the long-term community continuity, and whether they were considered to be a threat, and therefore, a priority for continuity or for change. Based on these factors, a heuristic model was developed to visualise how attitudes towards MRE developed based on local contexts. Although complex interplays of local factors were observed, support for MRE development was largely based on its perceived local socio-economic benefits and perceptions of minimal environmental disruption. To incorporate local attitudes into decision-making, a place-based approach instead of a technology-based approach was advocated in which community priorities becomes the first focal point of siting processes. This approach is based both on the identified importance of local context for engaging the community and on ensuring appropriate siting based on engagement processes in which communities are appropriately represented and processes are tailored to local circumstances. An added important benefit from such an approach is that it allows for the inclusion of local knowledge and expertise in MRE siting.

This exam is about how preschool teachers establish a relationship with children in age one to five years old, in their reception to Swedish preschool. To limit the area the exam illustrates how preschool teachers describe their work in how to create a meaningful relationship in reception throughout the attachment theory. It also focuses on how their work influence the adjustment with the children into the preschool environment. The main aim with the study is to reach knowledge on how preschool teachers view their work with children in their reception, and its importance to children’s attachment and establishing a relationship with the preschool teacher. With a qualitative method three interviews with preschool teachers have been done to answer the main question of the study. The result of the study shows that preschools teachers value children to feel safe before they establish a relationship. It also demonstrates that parents have to feel secure in leaving their children in the preschool for the child to feel safe, and be able to develop a relationship with the preschool teachers and other children. The study gives us knowledge that preschool teachers have the full responsibility to establish - and keep to establish - a relationship to the children throughout their whole visit in preschool. Through the attachment theory the described work in reception confirms how safeness with the child is important to be able to establish a relationship before and during the reception.