Father to infant attachment: Effects of early contact and characteristics of the infant

Abstract

Fifty-one father-infant dyads were studied at 24-72 hours of age and at 1 month to determine the effects of early contact, sex, and irritability of the infant on fathers' perceptions and behaviors. Irritability was measured by a factor of four items from the Brazelton Neonatal Assessment Scale administered at 24-72 hours. Fathers who held their infants in the first hour of life demonstrated more nonverbal behavior toward their infants during on observation at 1 month than those who did not have this early contact. Fathers interacted more verbally with girls than with boys at 1 month. A sex and irritability interaction effect was found in fathers' perception of high-irritability boys and low-irritability girls. Fathers also reported more frequent care-taking of high-irritability infants of both sexes than of low-irritability infants.

A comparison of parental interactions with term and preterm infants

“…The differences in father interactions with term and preterm infants could not be explained by differences between the two groups in paternal education, age, or socioeconomic class or by differences in the fathers' frequency of participation in child care. In previous studies (Jones, 1981;Parke & Sawin, 1980), fathers' interactions with male and female infants have been found to differ. The differences in fathers' interactions in this study could not be explained by the greater proportion of male infants in the preterm group because there were no significant differences in father interactions with sons and daughters.…”

Participación paterna en la experiencia del parto

“…Al realizar un contacto piel a piel, en partos cesáreas, los recién nacidos lloraron menos y lograron un estado relajado antes que en el grupo control 7,8 , además, presentaron patrones de succión más precoces 8 e intentos de comunicación vocalizada 7 . Padres que sostuvieron en brazos a sus hijos, durante la primera hora de vida, presentaron un mayor comportamiento no verbal hacia ellos, al evaluar al mes con la escala de evaluación neonatal de Brazelton (BNAS) 9 . De esta manera, el padre debiera ser el primer cuidador para su hijo recién nacido, en caso de separación con su madre 8 .…”

“…Existe evidencia de los beneficios del contacto temprano de los padres con sus hijos recién nacidos, reportados en diversos estudios [5][6][7][8][9] . Sin embargo, a nivel nacional, esto ha resultado difícil, por una sensación de incapacidad de responder ante la ausencia de referentes que puedan servir como modelos de interacción 10 , ya que de la experiencia de haber sido hijos 11 y de lo aprendido a su padre o figura paterna en lo cotidiano, se busca la imitación o la diferenciación de los patrones de comportamiento parental 12 .…”

The Relationship of Vaginal and Cesarean Births to Father‐Infant Attachment

“…Rodholm reported that when fathers held their infants shortly after birth (usually in t h e first hour) they displayed more touching behaviors t h r e e months later.I7 Additionally, Jones found that fathers who held their infants shortly after birth displayed more nonverbal behaviors toward their infants one month later. 5 According to these reports, infant gender, birth order, father's presence at the delivery, and early contact with the infant all may influence father-infant interaction. Will these variables, which have been found to influence attachment behaviors of fathers, predict attachment behaviors of fathers under the various conditions of vaginal birth and planned and unplanned cesarean birth?…”