An Exploration of Home Attachment Representations using an Adaptation of Adult Attachment Interview: Preliminary Data on the Home Attachment Interview
Abstract
Background: In analysing the literature on household as a physical structure strongly linked to cultural and affective aspects, as well as to universal central psychological needs, a universe of meanings was found. The household, conceptualised as home and safe shelter that contains and protects, but also as a favourite place where the most important relationships of each human being unfold, suggests to use attachment theory perspective as a potentially useful framework to conceptualize the construct of home attachment. However, this perspective needs to be further investigated in order to understand its complex nature. Therefore, this pilot study aims to investigate how individuals represent their own homes according to their feelings and emotions related to their household.
Methods: A qualitative-quantitative survey has been carried out with 50 adults (50% females) divided into five different age groups (from late adolescence to old age). An adapted version of the Adult Attachment Interview, the Home Attachment Interview, was administered.
Results: Analysis identified the relevant aspects that distinguish the “house” as a physical structure, and the “home”, that symbolically encloses emotional and affective experiences suggesting a perception of the “house” as “home”, being a special place characterised by a strong attachment relationship connoted symbolically and affectively.
Conclusions: Attachment theoretical and methodological tools used in the study appear especially useful to investigate and understand the construct of home attachment.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Agneray, F., Tisseron, S., Mille, C., Wawrzyniak, M, & Schauder, S. (2015). The home and its links with the psyche: Psychopathological and clinical aspects of attachment to the home. Evolution Psychiatrique, 80(3), 489–499.
Ahrentzen, S. B. (1992). Home as a workplace in the lives of women. In I. Altman & S. Low (Eds), Place Attachment. New York: Plenum.
Aiello, J. R. (1987). Human spatial behavior. In D. Stokols & I. Altman (Eds), Handbook of environmental psychology (vol. 1). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Ainsworth, M. D. S. & Bell, S. M. (1970). Attachment, exploration and separation: Illustrated by the behavior of one-year-olds in a strange situation. Child Development, 41, 49-67.
Altman, I., Vinsel, A. & Brown, B. (1981). Dialectic conceptions in social psychology: an application to social penetration and privacy regulation. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (vol. 14, pp. 107–160). New York: Academic Press.
Bachelard, G. (1959). La poétique de l’espace. Bari: Dedalo, 1989.
Bar-Haim, Y., Aviezer, O., Berson, Y. & Sagi, A. (2002). Attachment in infancy and personal space regulation in early adolescence. Attachment & Human Development, 4, 68–83. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616730210123111
Belk, R. W. (1992). Attachment to possessions. In I. Altman & S. Low (Eds), Place Attachment, New York: Plenum.
Berry N. (1982) La maison passée présente. L’archaïque. Paris: Gallimard; 1982.
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and Loss. Vol. 1: Attachment. New York: Basic Books.
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and Loss. Vol. 2: Separation. New York: Basic Books.
Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and Loss.Vol. 3: Loss, Sadness and Depression. New York: Basic Books.
Bradley, R. (2006). The home environment. In N. Watt, C. Ayoub, R. Bradley, J. Puma & W. Le Boeuf (Eds.), The crisis in youth mental health: Critical issues and effective programs. Early intervention programs and policies (vol. 4). Westport, CT: Praeger/ Greenwood.
Brown, B. & Werner, C. (1985). Social cohesiveness, territoriality and holiday decorations. Environment and Behavior, 27, 539-565. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916585175001
Brown, B. (1992). The ecology of privacy and mood in a shared living group. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 12, 5–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(05)80293-2
Buhrmester, D. (1990). Intimacy of friendship, interpersonal competence, and adjustment during preadolescence and adolescence. Child Development, 61, 1101–1111. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1990.tb02844.x
Burton, L. & Clark, S. (2005). Home place and housing in the lives of low-income, urban African American families. In V. McLoyd, N. Hill & K. Dodge (Eds.), African American family life: Ecological and cultural diversity (pp. 166–188). New York: Guilford.
Chatterjee, S. (2005). Children’s friendship with place: A conceptual inquiry. Children Youth and Environments, 15, 1–26.
Chawla, L. (1992). Childhood place attachments. In I. Altman & S. Low (Eds), Place Attachment, New York: Plenum.
Cooper, C. (1974). The house as a symbol of self. In J. Lang, C. Burnette, W. Moleski, & D. Vachon (Eds.): Architecture and Human Behavior (pp. 119-145). Stroudsburg (PA): Dowden.
Cooper, C. (1992). Environmental memories. In I. Altman & S. Low (Eds), Place Attachment, New York: Plenum.
Coppola Pignatelli, P. (1977). I luoghi dell’abitare. Roma: Officina.
Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Cristoforetti, A., Gennai, F. & Rodeschini, G. (2011). Home sweet home: The emotional construction of places. Journal of Aging Studies 25, 225–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2011.03.006
Csikszentmihalyi, M. & Rochberg-Halton, E. (1981). Il significato degli oggetti. Roma: Kappa.
Dovey, K. (1985a). An ecology of place and placemaking: structures, processes, knots of meaning. In K. Dovey, P. Downton & G. Missingham (Eds.), Proceedings of the Paper Conference (pp. 93–109).
Dovey, K. (1985b). Home and homelessness. In I. Altman & C. Werner, Eds, Home Environments. Human Behavior and the Environment (vol. 8, pp. 33–64). New York: Plenum.
Duncan, G., Ziol-Guest, K. & Kalil, A. (2010). Early childhood poverty and adult attainment, behavior, and health. Child Development, 81(1), 306-325. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01396.x
Eiguer, A. (2007). L’inconscio della casa. Roma: Borla.
Feeney, J. A. (2002). L’attaccamento romantico tra adulti e le relazioni di coppia. In J. Cassidy & P.R. Shaver (Eds.), Manuale dell’attaccamento (pp. 404-430). Roma: Giovanni Fioriti Editore.
Freud, S. (1929). Das Unbehagen in der Kultur. Opere 1924-1929 (Vol. X). Torino: Boringhieri, 1980.
Fried, M. (1963). Grieving for a lost home. In L. J. Duhl (Ed.), The urban condition. New York: Basic Books.
Fried, M. (1982). Residential attachment: Sources of residential and community satisfaction. Journal of Social Issues, 38 (3), 107-119. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1982.tb01773.x
Gerson, K., Stueve, C. A. & Fischer, C. S. (1977). Attachment to place. In C. S. Fischer, R. M. Jackson, C. A. Stueve, K. Gerson, L. Jones, M. Baldassare (Eds.), Networks and Places. New York: The Free Press.
Giuliani, M.V. (1991). Towards an Analysis of Mental Representations of Attachment to the Home. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 8, 2, 133-146
Giuliani, M. V. & Feldman, R. (1993). Place attachment in a developmental and cultural context. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 13, 267-274.
Harris, P., Brown, B. & Werner, C. (1996). Privacy regulation and place attachment: predicting attachments to a students family housing facility. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 16, 287–301. https://doi.org/10.1006/jevp.1996.0025
Hays, J.C. (2002). Living arrangements and health status in later life: a review of recent literature. Public Health Nursing, 19(2), 136-151. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1525-1446.2002.00209.x
Hayward, D. G. (1977). Psychological concepts of “home”. HUD Challenge, 10-13.
Hidalgo, M.C. & Hernandez, B. (2001). Place attachment: conceptual and empirical questions. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 21, 273-281. https://doi.org/10.1006/jevp.2001.0221
Horner, T. M. (1983). On the formation of personal space and self-boundary structures in early human development: The case of infant stranger reactivity. Developmental Review, 3, 148–177. https://doi.org/10.1016/0273-2297(83)90028-X
Hufford, M. (1992). Thresholds to an alternate realm: Mapping the Chaseworld in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens. In I. Altman & S. Low (Eds.), Place Attachment, New York: Plenum.
Hummon, D. M. (1992). Community attachment: local sentiment and sense of place. In I. Altman & S. Low (Eds.), Place Attachment, New York: Plenum.
Jager, B. (1985). Body, house and city: the intertwinings of embodiment, inhabitation and civilization. In R., Jung, C. G. (1961). Erinerrungen, traume, gedanken. Trad. it. Ricordi, sogni, riflessioni. Milano: BUR, 2006.
Kaiser, F.G. & Fuher, U. (1996). Dwelling: Speaking o fan unnoticed universal language. New ideas Psychology, 14, 225-236. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0732-118X(96)00017-7
Kasarda, J. D. & Janowitz, M. (1974). Community attachment in mass society. American Sociological Review, 39, 328-339.
Kelley, H.H. (1979). Personal Relationships: Their structures and processes. Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
Lalli, M. (1992). Urban-related Identity: Theory, measurement and empirical findings. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 12, 285-303. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(05)80078-7
Lancia F. (2012). T-LAB 8.0. Manuale d’uso. Retrieved June 25, 2012, from: www.tlab.it
Leith, K. (2006). Home is where the heart is. or is it? A phenomenological exploration of the meaning of home for older women in congregate housing. Journal of Aging Studies, 20, 317-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2005.12.002
Lewicka, M. (2011). Place attachment: How far have we come in the last 40 years? Journal of Environmental Psychology, 31(3), 207-230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2010.10.001
Lotz, C. E. (2003). La casa bioecologica. Firenze: Terra Nuova.
Low, S. (1992). Symbolic Ties that bind: place attachment in the plaza. In I. Altman & S. Low (Eds.), Place Attachment, New York: Plenum.
Low, S. & Altman, I. (1992). Place attachment: A conceptual Inquiry. In I. Althman & S. Low (Eds.), Place Attachment, New York: Plenum.
Mallett, S. (2004). Understanding home: A critical review of the literature. The Sociological Review, 52, 62–89. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2004.00442.x
Moore, J. (2000). Placing home in context. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 20, 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1006/jevp.2000.0178
Morgan, P. (2010). “Towards a developmental theory of place attachment”. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(1), 11-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2009.07.001
Mugerauer (Ed.), Dwelling, Place and Environment (pp. 215-225). Boston, MA: Martinus Nijhoff.
Pallasmaa, J. (1995). Identity, intimacy, and domicile: Notes on the phenomenology of home. In D. N. Benjamin, D. Stea, & D. Saile (Eds.), The home: Words, interpretations, meanings, and environments (pp. 131−147). Aldershot, England: Avebury.
Pegrum, J. (2001). Vastu Vidya. Milano: Corbaccio.
Pellow, D. (1992). Spaces that teach: Attachment to the African compound. In I. Altman & S. Low (Eds.), Place Attachment, New York: Plenum.
Proshansky, H. M. (1978). The city and self-identity. Environment and Behavior, 10, 147-170.
Putnam, T. & Newton, C. (1990). Household Choices. London: Futures. Thesis. The University of Surrey.
Rainwater, L. (1970). Behind Ghetto Walls: Black Families in a Federal Slum. Chicago, IL; Aldine.
Rank, O. (1924). Das Trauma der Geburt. Milano: SugarCo, 1993.
Relph, E. (1976). Place and placelessness. London: Pion.
Rubinstein, R. L. & Parmelee, P. A. (1992). Attachment to place and the representation of the life course by the elderly. In I. Altman & S. Low (Eds), Place Attachment, New York: Plenum.
Sator, G. (2003). Feng Shui. L’arte di creare ambienti accoglienti e salutari. Como: RED.
Scannell, L. and Gifford, R. (2010). “Defining place attachment: A tripartite organizing framework”. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(3), 289-297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2009.09.006
Shenk, D., Kuwahara, K., & Zablotsky, D. (2004). Older women's attachment to their home and possessions. Journal of Aging Studies, 18, 157−169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2004.01.006
Shumaker, S. A. & Taylor, R. B. (1983). Toward a clarification of people-place relationships: a model of attachment to place. In N. R. Feimer & E. S. Geller (Eds.), Environmental Psychology. Directions and perspectives. New York: Praeger.
Smith, F., & Barker, J. (2000). Contested spaces: Children’s experiences of out of school care in England and Wales. Childhood, 7, 315–333. https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568200007003005
Stokols, D. & Shumaker, S. A. (1981). People in places: a transactional view of settings. In J. Harvey (Ed.), Cognition, Social Behavior and Environment. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Sullivan, H. S. (1953). The interpersonal theory of psychiatry. New York: Norton.
Tognoli, J. (1987). Residential environments. In D. Stokols & I. Altman (Eds.): Handbook of environmental psychology (vol. 1, pp. 655-690). New York: Wiley.
Trentelman, C. (2009). Place attachment and community attachment: A primer grounded in the lived experience of a community sociologist. Society and Natural Resources, 22(3), 191-210. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920802191712
Tuan, Y. (1974). Topophilia: A Study of Environmental Perception, Attitudes, and Values. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Tuan, Y. (1980). The significance of the artifact. Geographical Review, 70(4), 462−472.
Twigg, J. (2006). The body in health and social care. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Unger, D. G. & Wandersman, A. (1985). The importance of neighbors: the social, cognitive and affective components of neighboring. American Journal of Community Psychology, 13, 139-169.
Weidemann, S. & Anderson, J. R. (1985). A conceptual framework for residential satisfaction. In I. Altman & C. H. Werner (Eds.), Home Environments. New York: Plenum Press.
Windsong, E. A. (2010). There is no place like home: Complexities in exploring home and place attachment. The Social Science Journal 47(1), 205–214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2009.06.009
DOI: https://doi.org/10.13129/2282-1619/mjcp-3249
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.