Adult attachment and the transition to parenthood.

Abstract

This study examined how a major life stressor-the transition to parenthood-affects marital satisfaction and functioning among persons with different attachment orientations. As hypothesized, the interaction between women's degree of attachment ambivalence and their perceptions of spousal support (assessed 6 weeks prior to childbirth) predicted systematic changes in men's and women's marital satisfaction and related factors over time (6 months postpartum). Specifically, if highly ambivalent (preoccupied) women entered parenthood perceiving lower levels of support from their husbands, they experienced declines in marital satisfaction. Women's ambivalence also predicted their own as well as their husbands' marital satisfaction and functioning concurrently. The degree of attachment avoidance did not significantly predict marital changes, although women's avoidance did correlate with some of the concurrent marital measures. These findings are discussed in terms of attachment theory. Attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969, 1973, 1980) proposes that interactions with caregivers in infancy, childhood, and adolescence give rise to internal working models of the self and significant others that guide behavior and perception in relationships. Most attachment research to date has investigated either infantcaregiver relationships (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978) or adult romantic attachment styles (Hazan & Shaver, 1994). The pioneering work of Ainsworth et al. (1978) showed that children who are securely attached view their parents as sources of emotional support to whom they can turn for comfort in times of distress. Children who are avoidantly attached, in contrast, do not perceive caregivers as sources of support, and therefore they distance themselves both physically and psychologically from caregivers when distressed. Children who are ambivalent display approach-avoidance tendencies toward their caregivers when they are distressed, mixing bids for comfort and support with withdrawal and expressions of anger. The initial research on adult attachment (Hazan & Shaver, 1987) assessed attachment styles using a categorical measure based on the typology Ainsworth et al. (1978) developed for infants. Recent studies, however, have shown that two orthogonal dimensions

Patterns of stability in adult attachment: An empirical test of two models of continuity and change.

“…For example, we know from previous research that people report lower levels of security after a breakup or separation (Ruvolo, Fabin, & Ruvolo, 2001) and that important life transitions (e.g., the transition to parenthood; see Rholes, Simpson, Campbell, & Grich, 2001;Simpson, Rholes, Campbell, & Wilson, 2003; the transition to marriage; see Davila, Karney, & Bradbury, 1999) have the potential to intensify attachment-related effects or produce change. Although the conceptual model presented here raises the question of whether contextual changes have enduring or temporary impact, it seems reasonable to assume that an event that fundamentally alters the nature of the relationship would have the potential to produce an enduring impact on a person's working models of that relationship.…”

Effects of life events on infertility diagnosis: comparison with presumably fertile men and women

“…Thus, this paper examines (i) whether there are differences between infertile and presumably fertile men and women in the way they experience stressful life events, regarding both occurrence and degree of attributed stress; and (ii) whether stressful life events can predict male and female infertility. Because parenthood is one of the most taxing transitions in an individual's life cycle (Rholes, Simpson, Campbell & Grich, 2001), we cared for controlling this potential bias by including only married/cohabiting individuals with no children.…”

Structure and validity of people in my life: A self-report measure of attachment in late childhood

“…The focus in more recent research on attachment has expanded to include older age groups including adolescents and adults (Alexander et al, 2001;Allen and Land, 1999;Armsden and Greenberg, 1987;Bloom, 1980;Buhrmester, 1992;Cyranowski et al, 2002; George et al, 1985;Greenberg et al, 1984;Rholes et al, 2001;Weiss, 1982). This shift in developmental focus enabled researchers to utilize self-report instruments and interviews for assessing attachment in adolescents and adults.…”