The Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Behavior

• Main Author: Clubb, Richard D
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: 01.04.1991
• Subjects: Attachment Behavior; Dependency (Personality); Emotional Response; Father Attitudes; Infant Behavior; Infants; Interpersonal Relationship; Mother Attitudes; Parent Child Relationship

This study examines the relationship between parent-child attachment and parental attachment styles. It is hypothesized that: (1) parental attachment styles are transmitted to the infant through parent-child and parent-parent interaction; and (2) parental attachment styles are reflected in parent-child attachment. Some research supports the idea that parental mental models guide the parents' interactions with each other and with the child. The child assimilates these interactions to form its mental representation of affectionate others. Subjects in the study were 50 intact, one-child families. Mother-infant attachment was measured by means of the Strange Situation within 1 week of the child's first birthday. Parental attachment style was measured by means of an Adult Attachment Questionnaire. Results supported the hypothesis that parental attachment styles predict mother-infant attachment. Fathers' attachment styles dominated the prediction. It was only in regard to fear of closeness that fathers discriminated between secure and insecure infants. Parents of insecure infants were distinguished by maternal fear of closeness, paternal fear of abandonment, and paternal fear of dependency. (SH)