The only difference is that as a result of age, attachment develops differently in people in different phases of life.
Toddlers and infants are more likely to express stranger anxiety. This is a form a distress that children experience when they are around people they do not know. The signs of this are hiding behind a parent, or clinging to them, getting quiet, staring at the stranger, or avoiding eye contact, and crying. They also may call out to the parent or raise their arms asking to get picked up. Toddlers and infants can also experience separation anxiety, both are attachment emotions. Separating from a caregiver can be very scary for a toddler, even when majority of the time it's temporary. To help them cope with the separation, the toddler may have a transitional object such as a cozy blanket, a pacifier, or a stuffed animal. By the time a toddler is older and is entering their preschool periods, they have a tendency to respond to separation with aggressive actions, like temper tantrums. Temper tantrums is a response when a child thinks that they're in jeopardy of losing contact with an adult attachment figure. (Mercer, 2006, p.4) .
Ordinarily you would assume a toddler that was separated from its caregiver for an extended period of time, upon their return would be happy and run to the caregiver with open arms. Ironically in some cases when reunion with the parent takes place, the toddler doesn't really understand what's happening. The toddler will express behavior such as greeting the parents indifferently, ignoring them, or even hit, or be push them away. Finally the child's anger will subside but as a result there may be weeks or months of clinginess, anxiety, or even sleep problems because the child is so concerned that the parents might leave again. (Mercer, 2006, p.63).
A British clinician by the name of John Bowlby developed something called The Theory Of Attachment which had numerous explanations regarding children's emotional ties to their familiar caregivers.
