Abstract
The association between fathers' adult attachment representations and their recollections of childhood experiences with their caregiving quality with their eight-month-old infants and with father'infant attachment classification was examined in a longitudinal study of 117 fathers and their infants. Sensitive caregiving was related to secure-autonomous classification in the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), hostile caregiving was related to fathers' dismissing and unresolved attachment, and emotional disengagement and role-reversed caregiving were both related to fathers' unresolved attachment. Childhood experiences of parental pressure to achieve were related to fathers' hostile and role-reversed caregiving and low sensitivity, independent of AAI classification. However, fathers' childhood experiences of maternal neglect were related to high-quality caregiving. It was also found that fathers' secure-autonomous AAI classification was related to secure father'child attachment in the Strange Situation Paradigm, and this relation was mediated by sensitive caregiving.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 701-721 |
Number of pages | 21 |
Journal | Early Child Development and Care |
Volume | 182 |
Issue number | 6 |
Early online date | Jun 2011 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2012 |