attachment style

n. The particular pattern of interaction with a caregiver developed by an infant or the carryover of such a pattern into more mature behavior. Three general styles of attachment have been identified: secure, in which the child seeks out and is comforted by contact with a caregiver; anxious-ambivalent, in which the child seeks contact with a caregiver but remains anxious and alternately clingy and hostile to the caregiver; and anxious- avoidant, in which the child is hostile to the caregiver and makes little attempt to make contact with him or her. Various researchers have described subtypes of these styles, and some researchers include a detached or disorganized pattern characteristic of traumatized children in which there is not a consistent pattern of attachment.