Final answer:
Reactive Attachment Disorder results from grossly inadequate caregiving and can lead to significant emotional and behavioral issues. Ainsworth's research identified four attachment styles, with resistant, disorganized, and avoidant attachments resulting from inconsistent or neglectful parenting practices. Understanding the complexities of attachment is vital for addressing psychosocial development issues.
Step-by-step explanation:
Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) is primarily a consequence of grossly inadequate caregiving and emotional neglect during early childhood. Children with RAD often fail to establish normal attachments to their caregivers. In the Strange Situation protocol, these children demonstrate atypical attachment behaviors, such as being overly clingy or rejecting, showing extreme distress and anger during separation, and difficulty in calming down upon reunification. RAD can progress to include mood and behavioral disorders, as seen in Raineki et al.'s rat studies, where early life stress led to depressive-like behaviors and increased amygdala activation in adolescence.
Ainsworth's classic Strange Situation studies identified four attachment styles: secure, avoidant, resistant, and disorganized. Children with resistant attachment behave in a contradictory and erratic manner, demonstrating clinginess and resistance to comforting. Children with a disorganized attachment exhibit strange behaviors such as freezing or erratic movements due to experiences like abuse, which disrupts their ability to regulate emotions. The avoidant attachment style results from insensitive caregiving, where children show little to no preference between the caregiver and a stranger.