Browsing by Subject "Adult attachment"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Attachment and perception of partner's parenting as predictors of trust trajectories over the transition to parenthood and its link to parenting quality at 24 months
(2021-04-26) Zhang, Shuqi, M.A.; Jacobvitz, Deborah; Hazen-Swann, Nancy L; Anderson, Edward R
This study aims to examine associations among adult attachment, perception of partner’s parenting competence, and trust over the transition to first-time parenthood. Having a baby is stressful, which is theorized to activate the attachment system. Under increased stress, secure adults have been found to turn to their partner when needed, but insecure adults are unlikely to do so and, in the present study, this is expected to diminish trust. Since the transition is also a time when couples begin evaluating their partners’ trustworthiness and dependability, positive evaluations of partners’ parenting competence may also enhance trust. The high trust may, in turn, provide parents with the support needed to manage stress over the transition to parenthood helping them to provide more adequate care for the child. 125 expectant couples from a community sample were followed over 2 years. The latent class analysis classified couples into three classes: high-stable trust (104 mothers); low-stable trust (20 fathers and 18 mothers); and low beginning and increasing trust (105 fathers and 3 mothers). Logistic regression revealed that parents’ attachment and perception of partners’ parenting were related to trust trajectories. Unresolved mothers were more likely to maintain Low Trust (vs. High Trust). Unresolved fathers were more likely to maintain Low Trust (vs. Increasing Trust). Mothers’ risk of maintaining Low Trust decreased with the increase of perception of partner’s parenting. Linear regression indicated that mothers’ trust trajectories were related to caregiving. Mothers with High Trust (vs. Low Trust) displayed less hostile, less emotional disengaged, and less role reversed parenting with the child. Finding that mothers’ trust remains stable and fathers’ trust increases are consistent with previous research, but this study identified multiple trust trajectories within each gender. The unresolved attachment status in parents interfered with their ability to trust their spouse. Finding that high trust over the transition to parenthood contributed to mothers’ less hostile, less role reversed, and less emotional disengaged parenting underscores that positive aspects in marriage over the transition to parenthood are of particular importance to mothers’ but maybe not fathers’ parenting.
The role of adult attachment in child custody litigants
(2014-05) Schraegle, William Andrew, IV; Sherry, Alissa René
Recently, attachment theory has been proposed as a possible unifying framework for assessing the parent-child relationship as part of custody determinations, due to the theory's rich empirical support. Though forensic evaluators have begun to incorporate the child’s attachment to his/her caretaker, the question of the parents' adult attachment style has so far been overlooked as a potentially relevant area for gathering information regarding parenting. Adult attachment theory not only has implications for parenting, but also for understanding co-parenting relationships and conflicts, which is often the primary reason for many child custody referrals. This study will use an attachment framework to explore group differences between child custody litigants and satisfied married couples on the Rorschach Inkblot Test. Analyses of these variables will be completed through multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). Additionally, discriminant function analysis (DFA) will be conducted to explore the dimensionality of the multivariate composites between groups. Information derived from the prospective study will contribute to understanding specific attachment related group differences and thus serve as the first step in establishing the R-PAS as a system for detecting attachment organization in child-custody litigants. It is hoped that this research will better inform forensic evaluators concerning: stress and coping styles; co-parenting; caregiving fitness; and ultimately child custody decisions.
Stability and change of attachment representations across the transition to motherhood
(2016-12) Reisz, Samantha Leah; Jacobvitz, Deborah; Hazen-Swann, Nancy; Anderson, Edward; George, Carol
This dissertation investigated changes in attachment representations across the transition to parenthood, a normative life transition that is related to attachment. A handful of studies have used the Adult Attachment Interview (George et al., 1985), which is the gold standard of adult attachment measures, at two time points, but none have explicitly examined the transition to parenthood (Bakersman-Kranenburg & van IJzendoorn, 1993; Benoit & Parker, 1994; Crowell, 2002; Sagi et al., 1994; Speiker et al., 2011). To date, no study has specifically examined the stability of attachment representations with one’s own parents over the transition to motherhood. The present sample consisted of 93 mothers who participated in the Adult Attachment Interview (George et al., 1985) at two time points. The first assessment was conducted when the mothers were in their third trimester of pregnancy and the second when their child was 24 months. Representational change has been linked to therapy (Taylor et al., 2015) and negative life events (Crowell et al., 2002), so these were examined as possible correlates of change. Overall, results showed that organized attachment showed stability over time, while unresolved attachment was not stable. However, each subgroup showed different patterns of change. Preoccupied was the most stable organized category, followed by autonomous, with dismissing being the least likely to remain stable and most likely to become autonomous. Unresolved loss was unstable while unresolved abuse showed higher than expected stability. Therapy was significantly related to representational change, though not in the expected direction, while negative life events were not significantly related, but descriptively showed promise for future inquiry. An informal review of the interviews of those who changed afforded insights into possible mechanisms for future study. These possible mechanisms included participants’ ongoing relationship with their parent(s) and how their parent functioned in the grandparent role, their experience of being a mother and their relationship with their infant, and their relationship with their partner. These findings have meaningful implications for clinicians working with mothers of infants and young children, as well as for researchers seeking to understand the processes by which humans change over time.
The effects of childhood psychological maltreatment on parents : depression and close relationships in stressful contexts
(2022-05-06) Aviles, Ashleigh Iris; Hazen, Nancy Lynn; Jacobvitz, Deborah; Varner, Fatima; Bryan, Amy; Reisz, Samantha; Hazen, Nancy
This research uses two datasets to examine the consequences of childhood maltreatment, physical maltreatment on depressive symptoms and interpersonal close relationships in stressful contexts. Study 1 follows 125 women over the transition to parenthood, and a structural equation model demonstrated that those who reported childhood psychological maltreatment also reported higher rates of depressive symptoms after, though not before, the birth of their child. They also reported higher levels of conflict 8 and 24 months after the birth of their child. In Study 2, a structural equation model was used to examine the effects of childhood maltreatment histories in 298 parents during the COVID-19. Those who reported childhood psychological maltreatment reported higher levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance, lower levels of expressive suppression, higher levels of depressive symptoms, and an indirect relation with lower reports of coparenting quality. Despite different assessments of maltreatment, different stressful contexts, and different cohorts, both studies found a link between a history of childhood psychological maltreatment, depressive symptoms, and interpersonal functioning.