Parent-child attachment in children born preterm and at term: A multigroup analysis
- Autor(en)
- Nina Ruiz, Bernhard Piskernik, Andrea Witting, Renate Fuiko, Lieselotte Ahnert
- Abstrakt
Background and Objectives: While ample research exists about mother-child attachment, so far little focus has been on the specifics of father-child attachment. Even less research is available on the nature of the father-child relationship for preterm children. The objective of this study was to determine whether preterm children (23 to 37 weeks gestation) differ in their attachment to their fathers from their term peers (> 37 weeks gestation), and whether certain child characteristics, such as sex, twin status, and developmental status, have an influence on the parent-child relationship.
Methods: The sample consisted of 190 preterm (including 45 twin pairs) and 100 term children (age range 12 to 36 months) and their fathers and mothers. Attachment of participating mothers and fathers with their children was assessed by the Attachment Q-sort during two home visits. Children’s developmental status was measured with BSID-III.
Results: Within a multigroup analysis of parents of preterm and term children, correlates of attachment specific to preterm fathers were found which accumulated to an explained variance of R² = .82. For preterm fathers less education as well as lower development scores and male sex of the child, were associated with lower attachment scores. In the three other parent-child constellations the explained variance did not exceed 20%.
Conclusion: The findings highlight the importance of informing fathers about preterm birth, possible problems, and developmental consequences. Health professionals are advised to create interventions focusing on fathers in order to enhance the quality of attachment in father-preterm dyads.
- Organisation(en)
- Institut für Klinische und Gesundheitspsychologie
- Externe Organisation(en)
- Medizinische Universität Wien
- Journal
- PLoS ONE
- Band
- 13
- Anzahl der Seiten
- 14
- ISSN
- 1932-6203
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202972
- Publikationsdatum
- 08-2018
- Peer-reviewed
- Ja
- ÖFOS 2012
- 302049 Neonatologie, 501005 Entwicklungspsychologie
- Schlagwörter
- ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
- Allgemeine Agrar- und Biowissenschaften, General, Allgemeine Biochemie, Genetik und Molekularbiologie
- Link zum Portal
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/937ce4cb-4512-4a3b-ac7a-932a12e4f288