Qualitative aspects of mother- and father-infant attachments

Abstract

Thirty-two infants were observed twice in the Ainsworth Strange Situation procedure, once with their mothers and once with their fathers. Following the emphasis and procedures described by Ainsworth, the analysis focussed on the nature of the infants' responses to separation and reunion. Raters then assessed the "security" of the infants' attachments to their mothers and fathers. Sixteen of the infants were "securely attached" to both parents, and seven had insecure relationships to both. Knowledge of the security of either parent-child relationship facilitated prediction (p<.06) of the nature of the other relationship, but there was sufficient variability to indicate that a major determinant of the quality of either relationship might be the earlier interaction between that individual and the infant, rather than one prototypic relationship.