In search of the absent father--meta-analyses of infant-father attachment: a rejoinder to our discussants

Abstract

In our meta-analysis on sensitivity and attachment, studies on the role of the father in the development of infant attachment were excluded. In this rejoinder to our discussants, we present new meta-analytic evidence on the association between paternal sensitivity and infant-father attachment (combined effect size r[544] = .13; k = 8 studies; N = 546 families), and on the association between infant-mother and infant-father attachment (overall correlation phi = .17; k = 14 studies; N = 950). Combining the findings from several earlier meta-analyses, we present a data-based model of attachment within the family system.