A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Fathers' and mothers' attachment representations as predictors of preadolescents' attachment security: A ten-year follow-up of Finnish families




AuthorsKouvo AM, Voeten M, Silven M

PublisherWILEY-BLACKWELL

Publication year2015

JournalScandinavian Journal of Psychology

Journal name in sourceSCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY

Journal acronymSCAND J PSYCHOL

Volume56

Issue5

First page 527

Last page536

Number of pages10

ISSN0036-5564

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12224


Abstract

The question of how mothers' and fathers' representations of attachment correlate ten years later with children's perceptions of attachment relationships was examined in a longitudinal study on Finnish families (N = 42). The parents completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) during the child's first year of life. At 11 years, the children filled out three scales on how secure they perceive the relationship with each parent. Parents' AAI classifications and AAI dimensions based on continuous scales were used as predictors of the preadolescents' attachment security. Regression analyses demonstrated that fathers' but not mothers' State-of-Mind and Experience dimensions predicted preadolescents' security of attachment to father. The discussion focuses on the predictive validity of the classical categorical versus the recently proposed continuous approach and the different roles of parents in transmitting security from one generation to another.




Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 21:26