The Impact of Early Attachment on Youth Violence

This project explores how disturbed early attachment patterns may be correlated with later youth violence. It was inspired by the tragic events at Columbine High School in 1999. It began as a four year research project, infused by my Masters and Doctoral level clinical work with children and families of all ages. It evaluates if a possible link between aggression and disturbed attachment exists. Results of this review are included and were also utilized to formulate a treatment model for future practice. The Identity Development Model targets adolescents who are beyond the early intervention stage of treatment. The model employs a psychodynamic and humanistic approach towards intervention and outlines a new possibility for this population. It focuses on exploring current identities and shaping them towards the survivor elements found in strong Jungian archetypes. The hope is to foster empathy for the self, connection with others and to enact moral development as a part of one's new attachment paradigm.