Parenting and Preschooler Attachment among Low-Income Urban African American Families

Abstract

This study examined the parental correlates of child attachment in a preschool-aged, economically disadvantaged, urban, African American sample. Sixty-nine 4- to 5-year-olds and their primary caregivers participated in the Strange Situation assessment procedure. Based on Cassidy and Marvin's classification system for preschoolers, 61% of the children were classified as securely attached, with girls being significantly more likely to be securely attached than boys (74% versus 45%). The majority of the insecure attachments were of the avoidant variety. Consistent with attachment theory, parents of securely attached children were rated as significantly more warm and accepting and less controlling with their children than were parents of insecurely attached preschoolers. Relative to parents of securely attached preschoolers, parents of children judged to be insecurely attached reported being more likely to use corporal punishment and less likely to use verbal reminders when their children misbehaved. Parenting was associated with attachment over and above the effects of child sex.

Inner-City Single Black Mothers’ Gender-Related Childrearing Expectations and Goals

“…Despite the perception that Black mothers are more loving with their sons than with their daughters, in a study of attachment patterns among urban, low-income, Black preschool-age children, Barnett et al (1998) found that girls were more likely to be securely attached than boys. Puzzled by this result, the authors called for research on low-income Black mothers' differential expectations and goals for raising daughters as compared to sons.…”

“…Some research shows few differences between parental behaviors directed toward boys versus girls, especially when children are pre-pubertal. Barnett et al (1998), for example, found that Black mothers of 4-and 5-year-olds were similar in terms of warmth and level of control whether their children were boys or girls. Similarly, Ispa et al (2004) andMcGroder (2000) reported no genderof-child differences in the degree of mothers' warmth or negativity directed toward toddlers or preschoolers.…”

Child anger proneness moderates associations between child-mother attachment security and child behavior with mothers at 33 months.

“…We hypothesized, therefore, that security would be associated with greater child responsiveness, self-assertiveness, and committed compliance (high-approach behaviors) for children high on anger proneness, and we explored whether security was related to more help-seeking behavior (low-approach behavior) for children low on anger proneness. Importantly, child-mother attachment security has been associated with greater maternal sensitivity (e.g., Barnett et al, 1998;NICHD ECCRN, 2001), and young children tend to be responsive toward, and seek support from, mothers who are more sensitive (e.g., Schieche & Spangler, 2005). Thus, we included observed maternal sensitivity as a covariate in the main analyses to control for the possibility that associations between child-mother attachment security and child behavior were accounted for by more sensitive mothering.…”

Parent–Child Attachment in Early and Middle Childhood

“…Several studies show that parents, mainly mothers, of children classifi ed as (more) secure in preschool or early school years show higher levels of sensitivity, warmth and acceptance, open communication, emotional openness, role balance, and mutual responsiveness and enjoyment of the child, and less controlling behaviors and negativity, than parents of children classifi ed as insecure (Barnett, Kidwell, & Leung, 1998 ;Booth, Rose -Krasnor, McKinnon, & Rubin, 1994 ;Diener, Nievar, & Wright, 2003 ;Moss, Bureau, Cyr, Mongeau, & St. -Laurent, 2004 ;Moss, Cyr, & Dubois -Comtois, 2004 ;NICHD ECCRN, 2001 ;Stevenson -Hinde & Shouldice, 1995 ). Similarly, securely attached children in later middle childhood have parents who are more accepting (Kerns, Klepac, & Cole, 1996 ;Kerns, Tomich, Aspelmeier, & Contreras, 2000 ;Yunger, Corby, & Perry, 2005 ), and are more aware of their children ' s activities and whereabouts in the sixth grade, but not third grade (Kerns et al, 2001 ).…”