Publication Type: Individual Poster
Abstract: Background and Aims: Past studies have revealed that paternal sensitivity is only moderately related to the child's security of attachment to his/her father. Other types of father's behaviors may be more influential in determining the child's security of attachment. The objective of this study was to better understand the origins of father-child attachment by comparing fathers’ and mothers’ representations of their attachment relationship with their child.
Method: The quality of mother-child and father-child attachment relationship to their two-year-old child was evaluated using the Attachment Q. sort (Waters & Deane, 1985). Based on the conceptual content areas suggested by Waters and Deane (1985), the attachment data were analyzed using the procedure proposed by Strayer et al. (1995). The attachment dimensions considered were: proximity-exploration balance, differential responsiveness, positive affect, sociability, independence, and social perceptiveness.
Key Results: Cluster analyses revealed four distinct attachment profiles for fathers as well as for mothers: two secure and two insecure. ANOVAs were used to compare these profiles. The attachment scale that is the most significant at discriminating father-child profiles - independence – was found to be the least significant at discriminating mother-child profiles (² = 66% for fathers and ² = 34% for mothers). The attachment scale that is the most significant at discriminating mother-child profiles - the proximity-exploration balance - has only a moderate impact in discriminating the fathers’ profiles (² = 54% for fathers and ² = 69% for mothers).
Conclusion: Fathers are more likely to value the child’s independency and seem to be more concerned with the exploration side of the proximity-exploration balance than mothers are. In agreement with several other studies (Grossmann et al., 1998, 1999, 2002; Volling & Belsky, 1992), we can hypothesize that the father-child attachment bond emerges mainly in playful contexts involving active exploration. The father-child attachment system thus seems to be closely related to the child’s exploratory system.