Children’s emerging receptive, positive orientation toward their parents in the network of early attachment relationships

ABSTRACT

Early security plays a major role in inaugurating the child’s receptive, positive orientation – a foundation for cooperative parent-child relationships and successful socialization. However, few studies have considered the association between children’s attachments with both mothers and fathers and multiple aspects of children’s receptive, positive orientation, or compared all four attachment groups (secure, avoidant, resistant, and disorganized). In 192 mother-child and 186 father-child dyads from community families, children’s attachment was assessed at 15-17 months in Strange Situation Paradigm. Aspects of receptive, positive orientation toward each parent – positive affect, committed compliance, empathic concern, and restraint in response to parental prohibition – were observed in naturalistic laboratory contexts. Generally, securely attached children were more receptive and positive than insecure, although specific effects depended on the measure, comparison group (avoidant, resistant, disorganized), and the relationship (mother- or father-child). For positive orientation in the father-child dyads, being secure with both parents conferred a modest additional benefit.

KEYWORDS:

• Attachment
• positive affect
• committed compliance
• empathy
• restraint
• mother-child relationship
• father-child relationship

Acknowledgments

We thank Lea Boldt, Kathryn Goffin, and the entire Child Lab team for their contributions, Bonnie Conley and Susan Paris for coding Strange Situation Paradigm, and the participating families for their commitment to our research.

Data sharing statement

The data that support the findings of this study are not publicly available. However, further information about this study is available from the first and second authors, D. A. and G. K., upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [grant R01 HD091047 to Grazyna Kochanska], and additionally supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health [UL1TR002537]. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.