As would be expected, after reading all of the articles on attachment it appears secure attachment is quite important in the lives of infants, children and adolescents.

It seems like common sense, when a child has a secure bond with their parents they are free to explore the world without the fear of being left alone to fend for themselves. They develop confidence in their ability to face the world because they have an inner sense that they are not alone. Although not every securely attached individual has high self confidence, there is no doubt that if you didn't develop a secure attachment your confidence level has got to be affected negatively.

Secure attachment helps us believe that ultimately, everything will be all right and that we have alternatives. Just like the female rats that did not receive affectionate licking from their mothers, humans that received lesser amounts of affection and bonding are more likely to be victimized. Perhaps, in humans its a belief that they are not worthy of better. Like the rats, humans exposed to stressful situations (natural disasters etc.) will have less innate factors to protect them from anxiety if they didn't have that initial secure attachment. Perhaps, your initial belief as an infant that your protector will always come back to you, protects you when you mature into an adolescent (and even as an adult) from disasters by giving you a sense that you are not alone and you are protected.

Over the past year or two (which coincides with the maturation level of my children), I've started to believe that adolescents begin pulling from their parents (and increasing conflict) in order to enable them to go out into that big bad world (and it also helps the parents let them go). Maybe as siblings begin to get older, they realize its them against their parents and they start to transfer their parental bonds to their sibling (who should be around for most of their lives).