Abstract
This study examined how fathers' adult attachment representations, assessed before the birth of their first child, predict feeding practices with their 8-month-old infants. Fathers have been underrepresented in child feeding research, particularly in longitudinal and observational studies. Feeding is a key parenting task of infancy and a growing number of studies have begun to explore the connection between attachment and parental feeding practices and behavior, revealing a clear link between mothers' adult attachment and how they feed their children. This is the first longitudinal examination of attachment as a prenatal predictor of fathers' infant feeding behavior. Participants were 118 first-time fathers and their infants. Adult Attachment Interviews were conducted in the third trimester of pregnancy, and father-infant feeding interactions were observed at home when the infant was 8-months-old. Videotaped feedings were coded using Chatoor's Feeding Scale (1997). Compared to other fathers, (1) those with secure attachment representations were more attuned to their infants during feeding, (2) those with dismissing representations were less attuned, and (3) those with unresolved trauma displayed more controlling behaviors. Fathers were more controlling with their sons than their daughters across all attachment representations. Study results suggest that father's infant feeding behaviors may influence by their own attachment representations. The links to fathers' controlling feeding practices are noteworthy because of the negative implications controlling parental feeding practices can have on child outcomes. The prediction of paternal feeding behaviors from assessments conducted prenatally has important intervention implications.
Highlights
Fathers have become increasingly involved in the care of infants in western societies over the past several decades (Bianchi, 2000; Fraser et al, 2011), including feeding activities (Jones, 2013, p. 71; Mallan et al, 2014)
This study explored links between fathers' attachment representations, assessed prenatally using the Adult Attachment Interview (George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985/1996), and fathers' infant feeding practices
Father-infant interactions during feeding may hold implications for the developing fatherinfant relationship (Cabrera, Fitzgerald, Bradley, & Roggman, 2014), and have been linked to children's later health outcomes, including overweight and obesity (Frankel et al, 2012), general behavior problems in toddlerhood (Hemmi et al, 2011), and anxiety in middle childhood (Messina, 2016). This is the first study that has focused on fathers' attachment representations and their observed feeding behaviors
Summary
Fathers have become increasingly involved in the care of infants in western societies over the past several decades (Bianchi, 2000; Fraser et al, 2011), including feeding activities (Jones, 2013, p. 71; Mallan et al, 2014). Powell and colleagues (2017) found that mothers and fathers’ self-reports of higher levels of attachment anxiety, which is similar to preoccupied attachment strategies assessed by the AAI, were related to reports of higher levels of controlling feeding behavior with preschoolers. This relation was not seen in those with higher levels of attachment avoidance, though, which is similar to dismissing attachment. The difference in findings between anxious and avoidant attachment styles found by Powell and colleagues (2017), and between preoccupied and dismissing attachment representations found by Messina et al (2019), demonstrates the importance of examining insecure categories separately, given their associations with different feeding practices. It is possible that fathers in this study may employ different feeding practices with sons and daughters
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