Question: do you think negative attachment can have negative effects? and can there be ways to reduce negative effects to prevent incidents like the columbine massacre

Kirsty Miller answered on 11 Jun 2017:

Hi Kayleigh! 🙂

Wow, that’s a big question, but then that’s what psychology is about 🙂

It has definitely been suggested that negative attachment in childhood can influence later relationships and behaviour. So for example, if babies or infants do not receive as much love and attention as they should, this can make it more difficult for them to have relationships or interact with others as they get older (this doesn’t always happen though – sometimes they can manage just fine!). Similarly, young children who experience abuse are likely to have difficulties with relationships, will often suffer from psychological problems, and can in some cases (although again, definitely not always), become abusers themselves.

However, it is very unlikely negative attachment alone could lead to such an extreme outcome as the columbine massacre. Usually you find in cases such as this that there is a whole series of events – some may be genetic, some biological, there may have been some attachment issues, difficulties with upbringing, negative life experiences, problems with relationships etc. that all come together in one disastrous event.

It’s a fascinating (and distressing) subject, but usually you find there is not one answer: there are often a series of ‘underlying’ risk factors that are there from birth or early childhood, and then as people grow up, other thing can happen that increase the risk of them hurting others. It is really important to remember though, that some people can experience every ‘risk factor’ and have every bad life experience, but they would never behave violently!

Wow, that was a tough question, but I hope my answer is useful, feel free to give me a shout if you have any more!

Kirsty 🙂