How Childhood Affects Your Relationships
Written by Laken Howard for Bustle
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If you've ever wondered why you tend to behave a certain way in your relationships, figuring out your attachment style can give you a ton of useful insight. To put it in the simplest terms, attachment theory — first developed in the 1960s by psychologists Mary Ainsowrth and John Bowlby — states that the way your caregivers interact with you during your childhood significantly influences your social and emotional development. Then, during adulthood, those learned behaviors and expectations (aka your attachment style) inform how you relate to and interact with others.
"Your attachment style is usually formed in childhood when relating to your parents and family," Brianna Rader, relationship and sex educator and founder of the Juicebox Sex & Relationship App, tells Bustle. "Knowing your attachment style can help you be more self-aware and recognize your strengths and weaknesses when dating and forming relationships."
If you're looking to better your love life, figuring out yo