Adolescent Parenting and Attachment During Infancy and Early Childhood

Abstract

Objective. Prenatal parenting attitudes and parenting behaviors during infancy and early childhood were used as predictors of attachment in children of adolescent mothers at ages 1 and 5. Design. Seventy-eight adolescent mother - child dyads participated. Data were collected at five time points from the third trimester of pregnancy through the children's 5th year. Results. A high percentage of children exhibited disorganized and insecure attachment during both infancy and early childhood; only 30% were securely attached at 1 year and 41% at 5 years. Quality of maternal interactions and cognitive readiness to parent predicted attachment stability; however, only verbal encouragement-stimulation predicted the transition from insecure to secure attachment. Prenatal cognitive readiness to parent independently predicted attachment security at 1 year and accounted for the relation between early maternal interactions and 1-year attachment. Maternal interactions during infancy but not early childhood, predicted 5-year attachment security. Conclusions. Early parenting had a unique and persistent effect on attachment security. However, verbal stimulation during early childhood attenuated the effects of early maternal unresponsiveness on attachment security at age 5.