Attachment network, interparental conflict, and older siblings' behavior predicting toddler behavior problems

Secure infant-father and infant-mother attachments are associated with fewer internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in childhood. The attachment network underscores relationships with both fathers and mothers to form four distinct configurations of attachment security (e.g., both secure, both insecure). This exploratory study had three aims: (a) to confirm the four classifications of the attachment network with fathers and mothers, (b) to examine whether longitudinal trajectories of toddler behavior problems differed as a function of the attachment network from 18 to 36 months, and (c) to test whether the attachment network would predict toddler behavior problems when other family risk factors (interparental conflict, older siblings' behavior problems) were added as predictors. Participants were 184 second-born, 12-month olds (55.9% girls) who participated in the strange situation procedure with fathers and mothers and were classified into four attachment configurations: both secure, both insecure, secure-mother/insecure-father, insecure-mother/secure-father. Longitudinal linear mixed models were conducted on a subsample of 150 families with both parent reports on externalizing and internalizing behavior problems when toddlers were 18-, 24-, and 36-month old, and interparental conflict and the older siblings' behavior problems when toddlers were 12-month old. Results revealed no effects of attachment in predicting toddlers' behavior problems; only the older siblings' behavior problems predicted toddler behavior problems from 18 to 36 months. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).