Early father–child and mother–child attachment relationships: contributions to preschoolers’ social competence

ABSTRACT

The main goal of this study was to explore the contributions of early father–child and mother–child attachment relationships to children’s later social competence with their preschool peers; possible unique and shared contributions were tested. Using a multi-method design and focusing on direct observation, attachment was assessed at home at age 3 with the Attachment Behavior Q-sort (AQS) and two years later social competence was assessed at classrooms of 5-year-olds using a set of seven measurement indicators that are part of the Hierarchical Model of Social Competence. Results show that attachment to each parent made unique and significant contributions to children’s social competence and suggested the possibility that each caregiver may have somewhat different patterns of influence on the different indicators of children’s social competence. Findings also suggest the possibility that a secure attachment with one parent may buffer the impact of having an insecure relationship with the other. Due to sample size, these results should be seen as a starting point to generate new and larger studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Attachment relationships
• mother–child
• father–child
• social competence
• preschool groups

Highlights

• Both the attachment and social competence constructs rely on direct observation of child behavior and child reports of playmate preferences;

• Early childhood social competence is predicted by attachment to both mothers and fathers.

• Both mother-child and father-child attachment security not necessarily contribute similarly to the three domains of social competence indicators we used.

• Analyses of the interaction of mother- and father-child AQS scores suggest that if a child has only one secure relationship between the two parents, it is advantageous that that relationship be with the mother. These data are relevant to discussions of attachment networks and/or hierarchies.

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the enthusiastic support and participation of the parents, teachers, and children who participated in this project. This research has been supported in part by grants from the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (PTDC/MHC-PED/0838/2014 and UID/PSI/04810/2019), National Science Foundation (BCS 1651189) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch (ALA042-1-14021, USA Sample 2). We acknowledge the support of all the colleagues that contributed to data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [PTDC/MHC-PED/0838/2014]; National Science Foundation [BCS 1651189]; National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch [ALA042-1-14021 (USA Sample 2).]; William James Center for Research [UID/PSI/04810/2019].