Evidence over Conviction: Young Children's Development of Attachment Security and Socioemotional Adjustment - Focus on Introduction to Preschool

The research area of attachment theory, originally developed by John Bowlby (1969), have repeatedly demonstrated the significance of the relational interactions between child and primary caregivers to the socioemotional development of the child. Additionally, recent studies suggest that it is necessary to include the whole relational network of the child to fully understand the development of attachment security of the child. This dissertation focuses on how children’s relationships to preschool caregivers, in a complex interaction with family background factors and other factors in the preschool context, can be an important part of the relational network of the child, and what impact this may have on the development of attachment security and socioemotional adjustment of the child. For this purpose, this research will be specifically focused on the introduction of the child to preschool since this process offers the context for initiating and building the relational interactions between the child and the preschool caregivers.