Bridging Attachment Theory and Attachment Parenting with Feminist Methods of Inquiry

Attachment theo y has a rich theoretical and empirical histo y in developmental psychology. Attachment parenting, while becoming increasingly more popular, has little empirical data to support the claims that its proponents make. Although one could argue that adopting certain attachmentparenting techniques could he @ foster the same kind of maternal sensitivity associated with secure infant attachment, no empirical data have been reported relating attachmentparenting techniques to the development of attachment in infants. Furthermore, developmental outcomes of parents choosing t o attachmentparent have been ignored. Given the limitations of both attachment theory and attachmentparenting to provide universal trajectories for optimal child and adult development, perhaps it is time to explore feminist methods of inqui y in our attempts to relate attachmentparentingpractices with the development of infant-caregiver attachment and its seguelae. In thispaper, Ireview attachment theoy andfeminist critiyues while pointing out the limitations in empiricaljndings supporting attachmentparenting behaviors. I suggest that some oftbe measures used in thestudy ofadultattachment couldbe consideredfeminist, and thatperhapsfeminist inquiry into what motivates individuals to engage in attach-mentparenting could be beneficial to our understanding of human development. "Attachment theory " per se has a rich history in developmental psychology and refers to the body of theory and research rooted in the works of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Bowlby (1969; 1988) posited that infants develop attachments to caregivers-primarily mothers-in order to ensure infant survival. Mary Ainsworth and her colleagues (Ainsworth and Wittig, 1969; Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, and Wall, 1978) provided a basis for demonstrat-ing empirical differences in the quality of infant attachment relationships to mothers. Since the mid-1980s, attachment theory has spurred a tremendou