Assessment of postnatal paternal–infant attachment: development of a questionnaire instrument

Abstract

This paper focuses on the father‐to‐infant relationship, and in particular on an approach to measuring the construct of father‐to‐infant attachment using a 19‐item self‐report questionnaire. Data are presented from a sample of approximately 200 Australian fathers assessed at 6 and 12 months after the birth of their first child. A factor analysis yielded three interpretable factors, namely: ‘patience and tolerance’, ‘pleasure in interaction’ and ‘affection and pride’, accounting for 45% of the variance. Coefficient Alpha measures were in the range 0.7–0.8, indicating acceptable levels of internal consistency. A high level of continuity of attachment scores was observed between the 6‐ and 12‐month assessments. Correlations between fathers' attachment scores and other study variables were highly significant, which is indicative of construct validity. The instrument complements previously published antenatal (maternal and paternal) and postnatal maternal instruments, and has the advantage of being easily administered to large samples, facilitating early identification of fathers having possible attachment deficits. Cut‐off scores for identifying such men are presented.

Keywords:

• attachment
• father/s
• survey

Acknowledgements

This research was conducted with funding provided by the National Health &Medical Research Council, Australia from 1998 to 2000.