Examining antecedents of infant attachment security with mothers and fathers: An ecological systems perspective

• Published in: Infant behavior & development Vol. 39; pp. 173 - 187
• Main Authors: Lickenbrock, Diane M., Braungart-Rieker, Julia M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.05.2015
• Subjects: Adult; Attachment; Ecological systems; Environment; Fathers; Fathers - psychology; Female; Humans; Infancy; Infant; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Marital satisfaction; Marriage; Mothers - psychology; Object Attachment; Parent-Child Relations; Parental involvement; Parental sensitivity; Social Behavior; Social Environment; Ecological systems; Infancy; Parental involvement; Marital satisfaction; Attachment; Fathers; Parental sensitivity
• ISSN: 0163-6383; 1879-0453; 1934-8800
• DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2015.03.003

•Antecedents of infant attachment with mothers and fathers were examined.•This study is one of few that examined antecedents of father–infant attachment.•The effect of maternal sensitivity on attachment depended on parental resources.•The effect of paternal involvement on attachment depended on parental resources.•Paternal sensitivity, marital satisfaction, and resources predicted attachment. Taking an ecological systems perspective, early parent–child relationships can be affected by interactions between systems where some are more proximally linked to the child than others. Socioeconomic status, a distal factor, is associated with social functioning during childhood, but research on its association with functioning during infancy, particularly attachment, is scant and inconsistent. Moreover, it is not clear how distal factors affect infant functioning. Other systems such as marital adjustment and parenting may moderate or mediate relations between distal factors and infant attachment. The current longitudinal study (n=135) examined the role of various systems – parental resources, marital functioning, parental sensitivity and involvement – in early infancy (3-, 5-, 7-months) on infant–mother (12-months) and infant–father (14-months) attachment security. Findings supported moderating processes but in different ways for infant–mother versus infant–father dyads. Implications for future studies and interventions are discussed.