The Effect of Parental Experience of Childhood Maltreatment on children’s Attachment Type: The Mediating Role of Parenting Self-Efficacy

Abstract

ABSTRACT Attachment has emerged as a major topic of contemporary study on children’s social and personality development, with a rising acknowledgment of the impact of attachment type on children’s physical and mental health, personality development, and adult social connections. Although different factors determine attachment type in children, parental influence is the most essential. However, the impact of childhood maltreatment suffered by parents in their original families on the attachment type of their children and its internal mechanisms still needs to be investigated. Based on attachment theory and self-efficacy theory, this study explored the mediating role of parenting self-efficacy between parental childhood maltreatment and children’s different attachment types. The results showed that although parental childhood maltreatment did not directly predict children’s secure attachment, parenting self-efficacy significantly mediated the relationship between parental childhood maltreatment and children’s secure, resistant, avoidant and disorganized attachments. Meanwhile, parental childhood maltreatment negatively predicted parenting self-efficacy scores, and the mediating effect showed consistent significance between parents. These findings not only add to the existing literature of knowledge about the elements that influence attachment type but also give a theoretical foundation for mitigating the harmful impacts of parents’ early maltreatment experiences on their children’s attachment development.