title: Fathers' and mothers' attachment representations as predictors of preadolescents' attachment security: A ten-year follow-up of Finnish families.
abstract: The question of how mothers' and fathers' representations of attachment correlate ten years later with children's perceptions of attachment relationships was examined in a longitudinal study on Finnish families (N = 42). The parents completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) during the child's first year of life. At 11 years, the children filled out three scales on how secure they perceive the relationship with each parent. Parents' AAI classifications and AAI dimensions based on continuous scales were used as predictors of the preadolescents' attachment security. Regression analyses demonstrated that fathers' but not mothers' State-of-Mind and Experience dimensions predicted preadolescents' security of attachment to father. The discussion focuses on the predictive validity of the classical categorical versus the recently proposed continuous approach and the different roles of parents in transmitting security from one generation to another.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Anna M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Kouvo
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marinus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Voeten
authors.affiliation: Department of Teacher Education, University of Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Maarit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Silvén
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009769:Object Attachment
keywords: Adult Attachment Interview; Security Scale; categorical versus continuous approach; fathers; intergenerational transmission of attachment; mothers; preadolescents