The parent-child relationship is regarded as the most important relationship
among other relationships. It is because the relationship between children and their
caregivers determines how children develop their attachment style, which may
influence children's beliefs and behavior in the social world. This study aims to
identify the attachment style that Colin has with his parents along with the factors,
and the impacts of parent-child attachment style on Colin’s character in The Secret
Garden novel.
This study used the psychological approach as the underlying theory that is
attachment theory. Moreover, other research discussed the impacts of children's
attachment is used to find the impacts of Colin’s attachment style. This study used
qualitative research methods. In this study, the primary data were taken from The
Secret Garden novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett in the form of dialogue and
narration. Moreover, the secondary data were taken from books, and journals which
related to the study. In collecting the data, four steps used in this study to collect
the data were reading the novel, identifying the data, classifying the data, and
reducing the collected data from the novel.
The results of this study concluded that several factors make Colin adopt an
avoidant attachment style in his relationship with his parents. Those factors include
an unavailable father, parental rejections, the absence of the caregiver’s emotional
presence, also the unsupportive and insensitive caregiver, and the children’s belief
that the caregiver will not be available. Furthermore, the avoidant attachment that
Colin develops has several impacts. It impacts Colin’s peer relationships, emotional
competence, and low self-worth.
Keywords: attachment theory, parent-child attachment, avoidant attachment style, The Secret Garden.