The relationship between adult attachment and co-parenting and parent-child relationship in Chinese parents

This study uses the Actor-Partner Interdependent Model to explore father’s and mother’s adult attachment related to their own (actor effects) and the partners’ (partner effects) co-parenting and parent-child relationships, respectively. Methods: Participants were from a cross-sectional sample of 1313 Chinese heterosexual married couples (fathers’ mean age = 39.74, SD = 5.61; mothers’ mean age = 37.55, SD = 5.04) whose biological children were pupils (mean age = 10.17, SD = 4.26). Results: Results revealed that: (a) within co-parenting, couple members’ actor effects from adult attachment avoidance to positive and negative co-parenting were found both significant, and the actor effects from adult attachment anxiety to negative co-parenting was found significant, whereas the partner effects was significant only from attachment avoidance to positive co-parenting; (b) within parent-child relationships, couple members’ actor effects from adult attachment avoidance to parent-child closeness and conflict were found both significant, and the actor effects from adult attachment anxiety to parent-child conflict was found significant, whereas the partner effects was significant only from attachment anxiety to parent-child conflict. Conclusions: The results support the theoretical view that there may be antagonism between parents’ adult attachment behavioral system and caregiving behavioral system, and highlights the negative effects of parents’ adult attachment avoidance and anxiety on their partners’ parenting function.

本研究采用演员-伴侣相互依赖模型（Actor-Partner Interdependent Model），分别探讨父母双方的成人依恋对自身（演员效应（actor effects））及伴侣（伴侣效应（partner effects））的共同养育（co-parenting）行为与亲子关系（parent-child relationships）的影响。方法：研究对象为1313名中国异性已婚夫妇组成的横断面样本，其中父亲平均年龄为39.74岁，标准差（SD）=5.61；母亲平均年龄为37.55岁，标准差（SD）=5.04，其亲生子女均为小学生，子女平均年龄为10.17岁，标准差（SD）=4.26。结果：研究结果显示：（a）在共同养育维度中，夫妇双方的成人依恋回避（adult attachment avoidance）对积极与消极共同养育行为的演员效应均显著；成人依恋焦虑（adult attachment anxiety）对消极共同养育行为的演员效应显著，而仅依恋回避对积极共同养育行为的伴侣效应显著；（b）在亲子关系维度中，夫妇双方的成人依恋回避对亲子亲密感（parent-child closeness）与亲子冲突（parent-child conflict）的演员效应均显著；成人依恋焦虑对亲子冲突的演员效应显著，而仅依恋焦虑对亲子冲突的伴侣效应显著。结论：本研究结果支持“父母成人依恋行为系统与养育行为系统可能存在拮抗作用”的理论观点，并凸显了父母成人依恋回避与焦虑对伴侣养育功能的负面影响。