Transmission intergénérationnelle de l’insécurité de l’attachement chez les familles d’enfants âgés entre 23 et 33 mois

Abstract

Objectives This study clarifies the link between adult attachment styles and parental description of their attachment relationship with their child. Mechanisms of transgenerational transmission are examined by first describing similarities of attachment models within the parental couple and then by comparing parental descriptions of child attachment as a function of adult attachment profiles. Finally, we focus upon specific types of families where insecurity of adult attachment is involved in the construction of an anxious parent-child attachment relationship. Participants and method Parents from 48 families, with children between 23 and 33 months of age, filled out the Adult Attachment Questionnaire (26,27) and the child Attachment Q-Sort (29,28). Results Results revealed that attachment parental profiles were dissimilar. Fathers and mothers description of child attachment behavior converged only in families where children are characterized as “difficult” or “dependent”. Furthermore, in these families, father and mother adult attachment profiles are more likely to be dissimilar. Adult attachment insecurity was associated with parental descriptions of more intense conflict and relational difficulties in their relationship with their child. Conclusion Insecure adult attachment styles are considered as a risk factor for parenting. Less secure parents describe their relationship with their child as more conflictual.