Relations between components of dismissing attachment representations and family relationships.

Abstract

This study examined how strategies parents use to maintain a dismissing state of mind while discussing their childhood relationship with their parents relate to the quality of their relationship with their partners and children. During the third trimester, 125 couples were administered the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) to assess adults' states of mind with respect to relationships with their parents during childhood. Marital quality was assessed via observations of couple interactions during discussion tasks and coded for emotional attunement. At 24 months, researchers assessed caregiver sensitivity by observing mother-toddler and father-toddler interactions. Fathers' idealization of their own father forecasted lower caregiving sensitivity with their 24-month-old children, and this relationship was mediated by emotional attunement in the marriage. This finding did not hold for mothers. For both mothers and fathers, higher marital emotional attunement related to more sensitive caregiving. These findings are discussed in the context of gender socialization. Interventions to disrupt the transmission of negative family interactions are also discussed.