Prepared to care: adult attachment and filial obligation

Abstract

Objectives: Past work found that close adult attachment dimension scores predict caregiver preparedness. Theory and past research suggests filial obligation (FO) may mediate the relationship between attachment and caregiver preparedness. The goal of this study was to test that hypothesis.

Method: The sample, collected using Mechanical Turk, included 165 women between the ages of 45 and 65 years who were not providing care to an aging parent.  Participants were reimbursed $0.75 for completing an online survey assessing response validity, dimensions of adult attachment, depressive symptomatology, FO, and caregiver preparedness, among other variables. The mean participant age was 52.2 years (SD = 5.5).

Results: The sample was predominantly White/Caucasian (82.6%), and Black/African American (7.3%).  With respect to education, 14.5% completed high school or general education development (GED), 32.7% completed some college, 36.4% completed a Bachelor's degree, and 15.7% completed graduate degrees. The three attachment dimensions (close, dependent, and anxious) and FO were all significantly inner-correlated.  Stepwise multiple regression analyses found that FO fully mediates the relationship between close attachment and caregiver preparedness, even after controlling for age, education, income, depression, and birth order.

Conclusion: The primary finding is that FO mediates the relationship between close attachment style and caregiver preparedness among prospective caregivers. This suggests that individual differences in attachment style among prospective caregivers indirectly predict preparedness for future caregiving through FO, suggesting a mechanism relating attachment style and preparation for future care.

Keywords:

• caregiving
• life-span theory
• prospective caregiver
• preparedness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.