The Anchoring Function: Parental Authority and the Parent-Child Bond

• Published in: Family process Vol. 52; no. 2; pp. 193 - 206
• Main Authors: Omer, Haim, Steinmetz, Sarit G., Carthy, Tal, von Schlippe, Arist
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, NJ Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.2013; Wiley
• Subjects: Anchoring Function; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - therapy; Attention deficit disorders. Hyperactivity; Authoritarianism; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child clinical studies; Child Development; Childrearing Practices; Children; Emotional Intelligence; Families & family life; Family psychotherapy. Systemic therapy; Family Therapy - methods; Female; Humans; Intergenerational relationships; Male; Medical sciences; Object Attachment; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - therapy; Parent-Child Relations; Parental Authority; Parenting - psychology; Parents; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychotherapies. Psychological and clinical counseling; Social Support; Treatments; Human; Parental behavior; Obsessive compulsive disorder; Authority; Anxiety disorder; Cognition; Parent child relation; Case study; Treatment; School age; Social interaction; Family psychotherapy; Anchorage effect; Family environment; Self control; Attention disorder with hyperactivity; Child; Social support
• ISSN: 0014-7370; 1545-5300
• DOI: 10.1111/famp.12019

Descriptions of parental authority and of the formation of a secure parent‐child bond have remained unconnected in conceptualizations about parenting and child development. The parental anchoring function is here presented as an integrative metaphor for the two fields. Parents who fulfill an anchoring function offer a secure relational frame for the child, while also manifesting a stabilizing and legitimate kind of authority. The anchoring function enriches the two fields by: (1) adding a dimension of authority to the acknowledged functions of the safe haven and the secure base that are seen as core to a secure parent‐child bond, and (2) adding considerations about the parent‐child bond to Baumrind's classical description of authoritative parenting.