Social support of parents: Influences on attachment and parent involvement with infants in full-time child care

Cheryl Ann Fortner-Wood, Purdue University

Abstract

In the present study, I investigate the links between parents' social support (SS), infant-parent attachment (Att), Parent involvement (PI), and life stress (LS). Forty-one infants, receiving at least 20 hours of family child care per week, and one of their parents (identified as the primary caregiver) participated. Attachment security Q-sort scores and Parent involvement ratings were based on home observations. Parents completed life experiences, maternal separation anxiety, child temperament, and demographic information questionnaires. Several aspects of parents' social support were assessed during a home interview. These variables were submitted to principal components factor analysis, from which three dimensions emerged (support from relatives, support from non-relatives, and quality of support). These factors were used to represent parents' social support in the remainder of the analyses. Social support was not related to infant-parent attachment or parent involvement. Furthermore, findings did not support the proposed indirect link between parents' social support and attachment (SS $\to$ Att or SS $\to$ PI $\to$ Att). However, support was found for the proposed moderated relationship between social support and parent involvement. Social support was related to parent involvement for parents who reported experiencing more negative stress. Implications of these findings are discussed and future directions for research on the links between social support and attachment are proposed.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Elicker, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Developmental psychology|Families & family life|Personal relationships|Sociology

COinS