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Attachment in adult daughters of alcoholic fathers
E Jaeger1, N B Hahn, M Weinraub
1Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122, USA.
Aim:
This study was designed to explore the utility of attachment theory for explaining socio-emotional outcomes in adult daughters of alcoholic fathers (ADAF). It was hypothesized that ADAF would have more insecure attachment organizations than daughters of non-alcoholic parents (non-ADAF), and that ADAF would describe themselves as more disposed towards compulsive care-giving than non-ADAF.
Design:
ADAF and a matched group of non-ADAF were compared on measures of attachment security and compulsive care-giving.
Participants:
From a larger sample of 251 female college students, 26 ADAF and a matched group of non-ADAF were identified to participate in the study.
Setting:
A large, urban university in the northeastern US.
Measurements:
Participants completed the Adult Attachment Interview and a questionnaire assessing characteristics of compulsive care-giving.
Findings:
As predicted, ADAF had less secure attachment organizations then did non-ADAF. Although no group differences were observed for compulsive care-giving scores, compulsive care-giving was negatively correlated with attachment security for ADAF.
Conclusions:
Findings indicate that the concept of attachment may be useful for understanding the developmental consequences of parenting in alcoholic families.
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