Abstract:

Attachment styles are characterized by different ways of interacting and behaving in relationships. During early childhood, they are centered on how children and parents interact. In adulthood, attachment styles are used to describe patterns of attachment in romantic relationships. The best predictor of adult attachment style is the perception that people have about the quality of their relationships with their parents as well as their parent's relationship with each other. Research indicates that patterns established in childhood have an important impact on later relationships. Presented study shows partial results of a research focused on integration of young adults from children´s homes into society. This part analyses attachment styles as one of the possible protective factors in a group of 40 participants who left children´s homes 10 years ago or more.

Two methods were used – an in-depth interview and Adult Attachment Style Inventory. The semi-structured interview was based on the literature analysis and an expert panel. The main thematic areas were life situation when boarding the children´s home, the course of stay in the home, situation after leaving the home, current life situation, support used after leaving the home, and protective factors when leaving the home. Data were processed using the SPSS v25 statistical software and Atlas.ti software for qualitative analysis.

Results show the importance of institutional care workers in children´s homes for creating a secure attachment style throughout a corective experience even in children and young adults who experienced various types of abusive relationships in their primary families. Respondents with secure attachment style had less problems when integrating into society after leaving institutional care facilities and were more successful in creating stable realtionships, finding stable work and reaching higher education level. Possible consequences for practice will be disccused.

Keywords:

Attachment, syndrom CAN, institutional care, integration into society.