Secured attachment and the socialisation of single parent children

Abstract

Both parents are needed for the proper socialisation of a child and the development of the child’s responsiveness to societal demands. Parent-child attachment has as function: the promotion of social interaction. Some children from single parent homes socialises equally, despite the phenomenon of acculturation. So, we could ask ourselves the question: what could be the drives of their socialisation; if the quality of attachment instigates/arouses the social development of children in single parent homes? We opted for the qualitative research, used the clinical method, making use of drawings, observations and interviews to collect data. We made use of the characteristics of analysis of the family drawing. The analysis of the speeches of the different interviews was done with the aid of the technic of analysis of content. The findings obtained beside the 11 participants of our research and their parents and teachers were interpreted using three theories: the attachment theory, emphasising on the qualities of secure attachment. Findings revealed that, all the children were securely attached and had an attachment figure who provided for their basic needs (sensitive response, attention, communication) which served as drives for them to adapt to environmental changes, have the spirit of initiative and socialised despite the draw backs of acculturation and single parenting. Despite the loss of some traditional values which favoured socialisation of single parent children in the past, secure attachment facilitates the socialisation of single parent children.