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Bowlby’s work centers on the impact of early relationships on later mental health. When a child lacks a secure attachment and bonding with a caregiver in the critical early years, the child misses a reliable foundation for safety and emotional regulation. This leads to the formation of insecure internal working models—expectations about whether others can be trusted and whether the self is worthy of care. As a result, the child may struggle to regulate emotions, form stable relationships, and cope with stress, which increases the risk for later psychopathology.

Why this is the best fit: the idea isn’t about physical health or general development, but about how the quality of early emotional bonds shapes long-term mental health trajectories. The other options focus on physical needs or general development without addressing the specific mechanism Bowlby identified—how inadequate early attachment and bonding set the stage for later psychological difficulties.

In short, inadequate attachment and bonding disrupt the secure base that supports healthy emotional development, linking early caregiving to later mental health outcomes.