ANXIETY AND ATTACHMENT TO THE MOTHER IN PRESCHOOLERS RECEIVING PSYCHIATRIC CARE: THE FATHER-CHILD ACTIVATION RELATIONSHIP AS A PROTECTIVE FACTOR

Abstract

This 49-family study is the first to explore the father-child relationship in a clinical population of preschoolers (at a tertiary care child psychiatry clinic) and to examine its relation to child anxiety and attachment to the mother. A moderation model of the father-child activation relationship on the relation between attachment to the mother and child anxiety was tested and discussed. Analyses confirmed the expected independence between mother-child attachment and father-child activation as well as the association between mother-child attachment and anxiety. The highest levels of anxiety were found in insecure children, and more specifically, in insecure-ambivalent children and insecure disorganized-controlling children of the caregiving subtype. Hypotheses regarding the relation between anxiety and activation were only partially confirmed. Finally, the activation relationship with the father was shown to have a moderating effect on the relation between attachment to the mother and child anxiety; activation by the father may be considered either a protective or a risk factor. Results for this clinical population of young children are discussed in the light of attachment theory and activation relationship theory. The study's findings have the potential to contribute to the development of preventative, diagnostic, and intervention programs that take both parental figures into account.

Keywords: Aktivierungsbeziehung; Angst; Bindung des KIndes; Internalisierungsprobleme; Kinderpsychiatrie; Moderation; Vater; Vorschule; activation relationship; afectividad del niño; ansiedad; anxiety; anxiété; attachement de l'enfant; child attachment; child psychiatry; crêche; father; internalizing problems; moderación; moderation; modération; papá; pre-escuela; preschool; problemas de internalización; problèmes d'internalisation; psychiatrie de l'enfant; père; relación de activación; relation d'activation; siquiatría del niño; モデレーションmoderation; 不安; 児童精神科; 兒童精神病學; 內在的問題; 内在化問題; 子どもの愛着; 孩子依附; 就学前; 幼兒園; 活化的關係; 活性化関係性activation relationship; 焦慮; 父親; 適度.