title: Correlates of child-father and child-mother attachment in the preschool years.
abstract: The increase in fathers' involvement in childrearing, particularly beyond infancy, warrants research exploring factors influencing the quality of child-father attachment relationships, and the impact of these relationships on children's social development. The current investigation explored various correlates of preschoolers' child-father attachment security to both parents, including contextual factors (i.e., socioeconomic status, child temperament, parenting stress), parental play sensitivity, and child social adaptation. Participants included 107 preschool-aged children (59 girls; M = 46.67 months, SD = 8.57) and their fathers and mothers. Results revealed that both mothers' and fathers' play sensitivity were associated with child attachment security after controlling for different contextual factors. Furthermore, the magnitude of the association between child conduct problems and child-father attachment insecurity was stronger than the corresponding association with child-mother attachment insecurity. Findings provide important information on caregiving factors associated with child-father attachment security in the preschool years and the importance of this bond to children's social adaptation.
authors.affiliation: a School of Psychology , University of Ottawa , Ottawa , Canada.
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Bureau
authors.affiliation: b Institute of Child Development , University of Minnesota , Minneapolis , MN , USA.
authors.forename: Jodi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: a School of Psychology , University of Ottawa , Ottawa , Canada.
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yurkowski
authors.affiliation: a School of Psychology , University of Ottawa , Ottawa , Canada.
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schmiedel
authors.affiliation: a School of Psychology , University of Ottawa , Ottawa , Canada.
authors.forename: Jeffry
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Quan
authors.affiliation: c Department of Psychology , Université du Québec à Montréal , Montreal , Canada.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Moss
authors.affiliation: a School of Psychology , University of Ottawa , Ottawa , Canada.
authors.forename: Audrey-Ann
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Deneault
authors.affiliation: d Child Development , Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine , Montreal , Canada.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pallanca
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002170:Canada; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009769:Object Attachment; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology* / Q000639:trends; D010988:Play and Playthings / Q000523:psychology*; D066107:Social Skills; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D014741:Video Recording
keywords: Fatherhood; child social adaptation; parenting stress; play sensitivity; preschool attachment