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Multiple attachment relationships within families: mothers and fathers with two young children
1Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02167, USA. rosenk@bc.edu
Insights
Children
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Family Studies
- Attachment Theory
Background:
- Attachment security is crucial for child development.
- Understanding dyadic and triadic relationship dynamics within families is essential.
- Parental consistency and congruence in caregiving influence child attachment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the security of attachment between mothers, fathers, and their two children.
- To investigate parental caregiving consistency and congruence in relation to child attachment.
- To explore the association between parental caregiving and attachment security across different child age groups.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Strange Situation assessments for younger children's attachment security.
- Employed Attachment Q-sort for older children's attachment security.
- Collected parental caregiving behavior ratings for both children in 41 intact families.
Main Results:
- Children demonstrated concordant attachment security with both mothers and fathers.
- Parents exhibited consistent caregiving behaviors towards their two children.
- Maternal caregiving associations with attachment were significant only for younger children.
Conclusions:
- Parental caregiving behavior explains a modest portion of attachment security variance.
- Attachment security evolves by integrating developmental inputs from children and caregivers.
- Early family relationships form a network influencing attachment development.
Abstract:
Security of attachment between mothers and fathers and their 2 children was examined in 41 maritally intact families. Strange Situation assessments of attachment security for the younger children (mean age = 1 year 10 months), Attachment Q-sort ratings of the older children (mean age = 4 years 8 months), and ratings of parental caregiving behavior of both children were obtained. Younger and older children developed concordant attachments to both parents. Parents were consistent in their caregiving behavior toward their 2 children. However, parents were not congruent in their attachment to their 2 children. Associations were found between maternal caregiving and attachment only in the younger group. The results support the idea that parental caregiving behavior accounts for only modest portions of the variance in attachment security; evolving attachments integrate developmental inputs from the children and the caregivers in the network of early family relationships.