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This study examined shifts in adolescents' perceptions of attachment relationships with parents over the course of a seven-week residential program. It addressed the research question, Do adolescents in residential wilderness treatment experience changes in attachment relationships as a response to treatment?
John Bowlby (1969, 1973, 1980) argued, using ethnological, clinical, and empirical data, that humans develop connections to each other that are central to survival. These “attachment relationships” form early in life and serve as the basis for future relationships. Bowlby believed that these early relationships function as internal relational blueprints, and that the internal working model is relatively stable over the lifespan.
Research reveals that a person's attachment classification can shift as a result of negative or positive life experiences (Hamilton 2000: Lewis, Feiring, and Rosenthal 2000). Research also suggests that attachment classifications can shift following lengthy treatment experiences (Diamond et al. 1999; Fonagy et al.1995; Korfmacher et al. 1997). While research has examined the effect of treatment on attachment classification in adulthood, only one study has considered this process in adolescence. That study, by Muscetta, Dazzi, and DeCoro (1999), addressed the impact of treatment on attachment through investigating a single adolescent in individual therapy. The present study expands