Attachment, caregiving and parenting: A mediational model Presented at the International Association for Relationships Research Conference, July 2008, Providence, RI, USA Abigail Millings, Judi Walsh, Margaret O’Brien

Background Role of romantic attachment and caregiving in family dynamics? Adult romantic attachment predictive of aspects of parenting with infants and young children (Rholes, Simpson & Blakely, 1995; Rholes, Simpson & Friedman, 2006) Adult romantic attachment predictive of caregiving in couples (Kunce & Shaver, 1994; Feeney & Collins, 2004) Mother Father Attachment Caregiving Parenting Child Hierarchy of attachment representations (Collins & Read, 1994) Global vs. relationship specific attachment styles Cognitive organisation of representations of caregiving? (How) are representations of caregiving across different relationship contexts associated?

Mother Attachment Father Caregiving Parenting Parenting Child

Method 125 couples with children aged 7-8 (not previously studied) Attachment Caregiving Caregiving Attachment Parenting Parenting 125 couples with children aged 7-8 (not previously studied) Accessed via schools Both partners completed questionnaires ECR-R (Fraley, Waller, & Brennan, 2000) Avoidance - discomfort with closeness Anxiety - fear of abandonment Caregiving Questionnaire (Kunce & Shaver, 1994) Proximity ‘When my partner seems to want or need a hug, I’m glad to provide it.’ Sensitivity ‘I am very attentive to my partner’s non-verbal signs for help and support.’ Cooperation ‘I can help my partner work out his/her problems without ‘taking control’ Compulsion ‘I tend to get over involved in my partner’s problems and difficulties’ Parenting Styles & Dimensions Questionnaire (Robinson et al.,1995) Authoritative parenting – clear boundaries, but with warm involvement Authoritarian parenting – dictatorial, punitive, obedience-based Permissive parenting – parent lacks confidence, parenting lacks boundaries

Analytical strategy Attachment Caregiving Caregiving Attachment Parenting Parenting Actor and partner attachment as predictors of actor caregiving Actor and partner attachment as predictors of parenting Actor and partner caregiving as predictors of parenting APIM regression analyses Regressions split by sex when significant interaction occurred Path diagrams constructed and mediation tested using Preacher & Hayes’ macro for SPSS

Attachment and caregiving (men) -.477 Actor avoidance Actor proximity .37 -.512 Actor anxiety -.197 Actor sensitivity .45 -.244 -.173 -.180 Partner anxiety Actor cooperation .18 .216 -.294 Partner avoidance Actor compulsion .11 p<.05 p<.07

Attachment and caregiving (women) -.711 Actor avoidance Actor proximity .55 -.299 Actor anxiety -.173 Actor sensitivity .31 -.244 -.200 Partner anxiety Actor cooperation .18 .254 Partner avoidance Actor compulsion .09 p<.05

Attachment and parenting No partner effects, no sig sex interactions Avoidance negatively predicted authoritative (optimal) parenting style Anxiety negatively predicted both non-optimal parenting styles R2 -.099 .244 Avoidance Authoritative .259 Anxiety .106 Authoritarian .129 Permissive .156 p<.05

Caregiving and parenting (men) No partner effects Men’s permissive parenting not predicted by their caregiving R2 .143 Sensitivity Authoritative .267 Proximity -.119 .178 Cooperation Authoritarian .192 -.126 Non-compulsion p<.05

Caregiving and parenting (women) No partner effects R2 -.160 Sensitivity Permissive .225 .118 Proximity .087 Authoritative .288 -.115 -.081 Cooperation Authoritarian .260 Non-compulsion p<.05 p<.07

Could it be mediation? Attachment Parenting Caregiving Direct effect Indirect (mediated) effect

Mediational model Path diagrams constructed on basis of previous analyses Significance of direct and indirect pathways estimated using Preacher & Hayes’ macro for SPSS (uses bootstrapping to estimate confidence intervals)

Mediational models for authoritative parenting Men -.094 A Avoidance -.445** -.061 Sensitivity .222* -.188* A Anxiety -.424** Cooperation Authoritative .218* -.109 -.138^ P Anxiety **=p<.01 *=p<.05 ^=p<.08

Mediational models for authoritative parenting Men -.094 A Avoidance -.445** -.061 Sensitivity .222* -.188* A Anxiety -.424** Cooperation Authoritative .218* -.109 -.138^ P Anxiety **=p<.01 *=p<.05 ^=p<.08

Mediational models for authoritative parenting Women -.076 A Avoidance -.738** Proximity .237^ -.450** A Anxiety Sensitivity .237* -.181* Authoritative -.068 P Avoidance **=p<.01 *=p<.05 ^=p<.08

Mediational models for authoritative parenting Women -.076 A Avoidance -.738** Proximity .237^ -.450** A Anxiety Sensitivity .237* -.181* Authoritative -.068 P Avoidance **=p<.01 *=p<.05 ^=p<.08

Implications The link between romantic attachment and parenting is not a direct one, but rather, is mediated by caregiving towards partner Parenting and partner caregiving may be driven by the same underlying cognitive representations of caregiving When considering problematic family relationships, it may be helpful to consider global, rather than relationship specific working models But do relationship specific models have knock on effects on other relationship specific models? Would improving partner caregiving automatically improve parenting? Interventions may be more effective if they start with global caregiving rather than relationship specific Work currently underway to examine whether the model holds for distressed relationships rather than ‘community’ sample

Thanks for listening! Research funded by a 3 year PhD studentship Thanks to supervisor Dr Judi Walsh Dissemination, extension study with Relate, and planning of new research funded by a 1 year Postdoctoral Fellowship