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From the Attachment in adults article
Kirkpatrick has claimed that attachment and support are more difficult to separate in adult romantic relationships than in parent-child relationships. Parents and children do not give each other equal amounts of support. Parents tend to provide support. Children tend to receive support. Parents are clearly on the caregiving side of the relationship, and children are clearly on the attachment side of the relationship. The question becomes whether adult romantic relationships are more like the caregiving side or the attachment side of parent-child relationships. Based on the way adults respond to separation, on the way lovers behave toward one another, and on findings from neuroscientific studies of love, Kirkpatrick suggests the caregiving side and the attachment side are roughly equal in adult romantic relationships. Since the caregiving side and attachment side are roughly equal, it is not clear that caregiving and attachment should be viewed as two distinct systems in adults. Berman and Sperling have similarly claimed that caregiving and attachment represent a single system in adults. Although Kirkpatrick admits proposing some speculative ideas about attachment, his article raises thought-provoking questions about the conceptual relationship between attachment and support.