Finnish mother's and father's attachment representations during child's first year predict psychosocial adjustment in preadolescence

Abstract

The aim of the longitudinal study was to examine, for the first time in a Nordic country, whether autonomous parenting in infancy affects psychosocial adjustment in preadolescence. Attachment representations of mothers and fathers were investigated with the Adult Attachment Interview in a community sample of two-parent Finnish families. Most mothers and fathers were classified as autonomous, a finding which is in line with normative Western distributions. Moreover, the ratio of dismissing versus preoccupied adults was similar to Western norms. Demographic characteristics such as family structure and years of education differentiated autonomous from non-autonomous mothers. In preadolescence, the children who had experienced at least one autonomous parent were more empathic and had fewer problems in social relationships and thought processes compared to children of two non-autonomous parents. The findings suggest that autonomous parenting has long-term parent gender specific influences on children's psychosocial adjustment.