Father Involvement, Paternal Sensitivity and Father -Child Attachment in the First Three Years

129 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008.This study examined the associations among father involvement, fathers' parenting sensitivity, and father-child attachment security when children were 13 months and 3 years of age. Although there were few associations among these variables at 13 months of age, composite father involvement and fathers' sensitivity at age 3 independently and interactively predicted concurrent father-child attachment security. There was also evidence for moderate stability in father involvement, but not in fathers' sensitivity across the two timepoints. Furthermore, there was significant stability in father-child attachment security from 13 months (as assessed by the Strange Situation Procedure; Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978) to 3 years (as assessed by the observers' Attachment Q-Set; Waters, 1987). Secure attachment at 13 months also predicted greater levels of parenting sensitivity at 3 years. Parenting sensitivity at age 3 partially mediated the association between 13 month and 3 year attachment security. Results suggest that the father-child attachment relationship may develop as a function of both the quantity and quality of fathers' parenting behavior. Moreover, father-child attachment in the first year remains relatively stable across early childhood and may help to promote subsequent fathers' parenting sensitivity.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD