Ghosts in the nursery revisited: Paternal images, reworking experiences, and parental awareness among fathers of latency‐age children

Abstract

This article presents findings from a study of 30 fathers of latency‐age children, which examined the relationship between men's images of their fathers and men s parenting attitudes. The study design included a structured interview, previously developed instruments, and open‐ended exploration.

The findings indicated that men who had revised or updated their paternal images were significantly higher on parental awareness levels than those men who had not. Parental awareness, which refers to a cognitive developmental hierarchy of parental conceptions of the child, the parenting role, and the parent‐child relationship was assessed by the Parental Awareness Interview (PAI). Parental awareness levels were also related to the men's current paternal working model of attachment as assessed with a Reworking Interview modeled after the Berkeley Adult Attachment Interview: Dismissing of Attachment, Secure, and Preoccupied with Attachment. Parental awareness was not related to childhood paternal bonding as measured by the Parental Bonding Instrument. Five mediators which may lead to or trigger a reworking process also were identified. The study indicates that a man's personal attachment history is related to his parenting attitudes towards his own children.

Notes

Alice Chornesky, Ph.D. is a clinical social worker on the Developmental Evaluation Team at the Franklin Medical Center, Greenfield, MA, Faculty Field Advisor, Smith College School for Social Work and in private practice in Northampton, MA. This article is based upon a doctoral dissertation, submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Smith College School for Social Work, 1990. The author would like to thank Dr. Roger Miller for his support and advice during all phases of the study and Dr. Jesse Geller (Yale University) for his assistance and encouragement.