Intergenerational transmission of attachment in father-child dyads: the case of single parenthood

Abstract

Researchers have repeatedly found that intergenerational transmission of attachment is more robust in mother-child dyads than it is in father-child dyads. They have proposed several explanations for the inconsistent father-child findings, including the use of the strange situation procedure, the young age of the children, and the fact that fathers are often less involved in early caregiving than are mothers. The authors aimed to investigate intergenerational transmission in father-child dyads when several conditions are present that may heighten the likelihood of such a transmission. Thus, the authors assessed 16 married fathers and 12 divorced fathers who had full custody of their 4- 6-year-old child, using the story-stem attachment measure with the children. As expected, the authors observed no transmission with married fathers. In contrast, paternal preoccupation with past attachment experiences was associated with child hyperactivation in the full-custodial father group. The findings suggest that attachment transmission is more likely to occur when fathers have a primary caregiving role.