Final answer:
Children can develop attachment problems due to a caregiver's inconsistent responsiveness, leading to resistant attachment, disorganized attachment often linked with abuse, or avoidant attachment from insensitive caregiving. Secure attachment, the healthiest form, relies on consistent, responsive caregiving.
Step-by-step explanation:
Circumstances that can lead to attachment problems for a child include a caregiver's inconsistent response to the child's needs, which may result in resistant attachment. In such cases, children may exhibit clingy behavior but also reject caregiver interactions, and do not feel secure enough to explore their surroundings. In addition, children might develop disorganized attachment if they have been abused, leading to disruptions in their ability to regulate their emotions and uncharacteristic behaviors like freezing or running erratically upon the caregiver's return.
Another form is avoidant attachment, where a child is unresponsive to the caregiver and indifferent to their presence or absence, likely stemming from having a caregiver who is insensitive and inattentive. Lastly, culture and a child's temperament have been suggested as influencing factors on attachment, suggesting that these patterns are not universal. The healthiest form of attachment is secure attachment, which is characterized by a child's preference for the parent over strangers and reliance on the parent as a secure base from which to explore.