title: Daily parenting engagement among new mothers and fathers: the role of romantic attachment in dual-earner families.
abstract: We investigated the association of prenatal assessments of mothers' and fathers' self-reported romantic attachment anxiety and avoidance with the time mothers and fathers reported in proximity-focused and exploration-focused engagement with their infants at 9 months postpartum. Our sample of 136 dual-earner couples came from a larger longitudinal study of the transition to parenthood. Time in proximity-focused (interactions that emphasize physical or emotional connection) and exploration-focused (activities that stimulate and build knowledge of the world) engagement on workdays and nonworkdays were measured using time diaries. Using actor-partner interdependence models, we found significant across-partners associations between romantic attachment and parental engagement. In particular, analyses revealed interesting interactions: fathers higher in avoidance spent more time in exploration-focused engagement on workdays when mothers were more anxious, whereas mothers higher in anxiety spent more time in proximity-focused engagement on nonworkdays when fathers were more avoidant. Moreover, fathers demonstrated a compensatory pattern of engagement in response to mother's greater attachment anxiety or avoidance. Findings support the utility of studying romantic attachment within a family system and extend the literature on correlates of early parental engagement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Sciences, The Ohio State University.
authors.forename: Sarah N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: Sarah J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Schoppe-Sullivan
authors.forename: Letitia E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Kotila
authors.forename: Claire M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Kamp Dush
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009769:Object Attachment; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology