Table 3.

Parental Attachment Styles and Parental Cognitions

Study	Sample	Measure	Parenting Outcome Variable(s)	Results	Effect Size (r)
Berant, Mikulincer, & Florian (2001a)	151 Israeli mothers of newborns with and without a diagnosis of congenital heart disease.	H&S	Appraisal of Motherhood	Secure mothers appraised motherhood as less threatening compared to anxious mothers.	Sec < Anx r1 = −.14 to −.27
			Perceived ability to cope with parenting challenges	Secure mothers reported being better able to cope with parenting challenges than avoidant and anxious mothers.	Sec > Av r1 = .09 to .39
					Sec > Anx r1 = .23 to .40
Berant, Mikulincer, & Florian (2001b)	85 Israeli mothers of infants with congenital heart disease. Assessed 2 weeks after diagnosis and again 1 year later.	AASS	Appraisal of motherhood as threatening and challenging (Time 1, Time 2)	Avoidance unrelated to Time 1 appraisal of motherhood or to changes in appraisal of motherhood from Time 1 to Time 2.	.07, −.04
				At Time 1, anxiety positively correlated with appraising motherhood as more threatening, but unrelated to appraisal of challenging. Anxiety did not predict changes in appraisals of motherhood from Time 1 to Time 2.	.28*, −.05
			Perceived ability to cope with parenting challenges	At Time 1, avoidance unrelated to perceived ability to cope. Avoidance related to decrease in perceived ability to cope from Time 1 to Time 2.	−.18
				At Time 1, anxiety negatively related to perceived ability to cope. Anxiety did not predict changes in perceived ability to cope.	−.37**
Berlin et al. (2011)	947 US mothers with 3- year-old children. Half assigned to Early Head Start (EHS) services, half assigned to control group around time of childbirth.	AAQ	Perception of parent-child relationship.	In both intervention and control groups, baseline avoidance positively correlated with negative perceptions of the parent-child relationship at age 3.	I: .18*** C: .15*
				In both intervention and control groups, baseline anxiety positively correlated with negative perceptions of the parent-child relationship (marginal correlation for control group).	I: .22*** C: .10+
Caldwell, Shaver, Li, & Minzenberg (2011)	76 US mothers with children under 18 years old.	ECR	Parental self-efficacy	Avoidance negatively correlated with parental self-efficacy (but non-significant in regression).	−.29*
				Anxiety negatively correlated with parental self-efficacy (but non-significant in regression).	−.37**
Finzi-Dottan, Cohen, Iwaniec, Sapir, & Wiezman (2006)	56 Israeli married couples (112 individual parents) with children (Mage = 10.86 years). Husband was in the first stages of recovery from drug abuse.	AASS	Perceptions of family cohesion	Security positively correlated with family cohesion in fathers and mothers.	M: .26* F: .34*
				Anxiety negatively correlated with family cohesion in fathers and mothers.	M: −.43* F: −.28*
			Perceptions of family adaptability	Security positively correlated with family adaptability in fathers, but not mothers.	M: NA F: .23*
Howard (2010)	72 US fathers and their 6- month-old infants	H&S	Parenting Efficacy	Secure fathers reported more parenting efficacy compared to anxious fathers.	Sec > Anx r1 = .28
			Knowledge of infant development	Secure fathers reported more knowledge of infant development compared to avoidant fathers.	Sec > Av r1 = .55
Kilmann, Vendemia, Parnell, & Urbaniak (2009)	90 US married couples (180 individual parents) and their college-aged daughters (Mage= 20.3 years)	RSQ	Parental competence	Secure parents reported higher parental competence compared to insecure parents.	NA
Kohlhoff & Barnett (2013)	83 Australian mothers of infants (Mage = 5.3 months)	ASQ	Parental self-efficacy	Avoidance negatively correlated with parental self-efficacy.	−.25*
				Anxiety negatively correlated with parental self-efficacy (but non-significant in regression).	−.33*
Kohn, Rholes, Simpson, Martin III, Tran, & Wilson (2012)	192 US couples (384 individual parents) studied across the first 2 years of parenthood	ECR	Family Demand at baseline assessment	Avoidance positively correlated with family demand in fathers, but not mothers.	M: .09 F: .15*
				Anxiety positively correlated with family demand in both mothers and fathers.	M: .18* F: .22**
			Work-family conflict at baseline assessment	Avoidance positively correlated with work- family conflict in fathers, but not mothers.	M: .00 F: .19**
				Anxiety positively correlated with work- family conflict in both fathers and mothers.	M: .15* F: .25**
Kor, Mikulincer, & Pirutinsky (2012)	1632 Israeli parents with children between the ages of 12-18 years	ECR	Perceived family disengagement (i.e., low warmth, emotional distance)	Avoidance related to greater family disengagement.	.16***
				Anxiety related to greater family disengagement.	.27***
			Perceived family chaos (i.e., low control)	Avoidance related to greater family chaos.	.07**
				Anxiety related to greater family chaos.	.27***
Leerkes & Siepak (2006)	444 US undergraduate women (non-parents)	RSQ	Attributions for infant distress	Avoidance negatively correlated with making situational/emotion attributions about anger and positively correlated with making negative/internal attributions about fear.	−.16**, .09+,
				Anxiety positively correlated with making temporary/physical attributions about anger and fear.	.20***, 19***
Lench, Quas, & Edelstein (2006)	106 US parents of 5 and 6 year olds	RQ	Optimism that child will avoid negative outcomes and attain positive outcomes	Avoidance related to less optimism that child would attain positive outcomes and avoid negative outcomes.	NA
				Anxiety unrelated to optimism about child outcomes.	NA
			Perceptions of child effortful control	Attachment style unrelated to perceptions of child effortful control.	.07, −.05
Mayseless & Scher (2000)	97 Israeli mothers of infants assessed when infants were 3 and 9 months	ACQ	Perceptions of infant temperament	Attachment style uncorrelated with perceptions of infant temperament.	.04 to .15
Meredith & Noller (2003)	74 Australian mothers	RQ	Perceptions of infant difficulty	Attachment style unrelated to perceptions of infant difficulty.	NA
Mikulincer & Florian (1998, Study 2)	80 Israeli mothers of newborns (2-3 months old)	H&S	Appraisal of motherhood	Secure mothers appraised motherhood as less threatening than avoidant and anxious mothers.	Sec < Av, Anxa r1 = −.35, −.47
Mikulincer & Florian (1999a)	93 Israeli couples (186 individual parents) with young children	AASS	Perceived family cohesion and adaptability	Secure and anxious mothers and fathers reported greater family cohesion compared to avoidant mothers and fathers.	Sec, Anx, > Av r1M = .53, .52
					r1F = .27, .28
				Secure and anxious mothers and fathers reported greater family cohesion compared to avoidant mothers and fathers. Secure mothers and fathers reported greater family adaptability compared to avoidant or anxious mothers and fathers.	Sec, > Av, Anx r1M = .29, .26
					r1F = .27, .35
			Perceptions of Ideal Family Cohesion and Adaptability	Secure and anxious mothers and fathers viewed their ideal family as having more cohesion compared to avoidant mothers and fathers.	Sec, Anx > Av r1M = .32, .28
					r1F = .28, .40
					NA
				Attachment style unrelated to ideal family adaptability.
Mikulincer & Florian (1999b)	196 Israeli parents of undergraduates	AASS	Perceived family cohesion and adaptability	Attachment style unrelated parent perceptions of family cohesion and adaptability.	NA
Mikulincer & Florian (1999c, Study 1)	260 Israeli women during their first pregnancy	H&S	Perceived similarity between self and fetus	Main effect of attachment style: secure mothers reported more similarity than avoidant and anxious mothers.	Sec > Av, Anx r1 = .17, .10
				Significant Attachment Style X Trimester of pregnancy interaction: In the 1st trimester, secure women reported more similarity compared to anxious and avoidant women. No differences in the 2nd trimester. In the 3rd trimester, secure and anxious women reported more similarity compared to avoidant women.
Nathanson & Manohar (2012)	180 US college students (non-parents)	AAS	Negative attitudes toward childrearing	Security correlated with less negative attitudes toward childrearing.	−.20**
				Insecurity correlated with more negative attitudes toward childrearing.	.37***
			Expected attitudes toward child TV watching	Attachment style unrelated to expected attitudes toward child TV watching.	.01 to .14+
			Expected warmth toward future children	Security unrelated to expected warmth.	.00
				Insecurity negatively correlated with expected warmth toward future children.	−.16*
			Expected disciplinary harshness/warmth	Security unrelated to endorsement of strict discipline.	.05
				Insecurity positively correlated with greater endorsement of strict discipline.	.16*
			Expected encouragement of independent ideas	Attachment style unrelated to encouragement of independent ideas.	.06, .01
Pesonen, Räikkönen, Keltikangas-Järvinen, Strandberg, & Järvenpäa (2003)	180 Finnish couples (360 individual parents) with 6 month old infants	AAS and RQ	Perceptions of infant temperament	Mother and father avoidance related to more negative perceptions of infant temperament.	M: .01 to .26** F: .05 to .21**
				Mother and father anxiety related to more negative perceptions of infant temperament.	M: .00 to .23** F: .01 to .22**
Pesonen, Räikkönen, Strandberg, Keltikangas-Järvinen, & Järvenpäa (2004)	492 Finnish parents with 6 month old infants	AAS and RQ	Perceptions of infant temperament	Mother and father avoidance were related to more negative perceptions of infant temperament. After controlling for parental depression, only mother avoidance was associated with perceiving the infant as more fearful.	NA
				Mother and father anxiety were related to more negative perceptions of infant temperament. After controlling for parental depression, anxiety was unrelated to perceptions of infant temperament.	NA
Priel & Besser (2000)	115 Israeli women assessed during third trimester and again 16 weeks after childbirth	RQ	Perceptions of infant temperament	Secure mothers reported less negative perceptions of infant temperament compared to insecure mothers.	Sec < Insec r1 = .21 to .49
				Bonding to fetus mediated link between insecure attachment and perceptions of infant temperament.
Rholes, Simpson, & Blakely (1995, Study 1)	44 US mothers and their toddlers (Mage = 36 months)	AAQ	Perceptions of child difficulty	Avoidance unrelated to perceptions of child difficulty.	NA
				Anxiety X Maternal distress interaction: the link between maternal distress and greater perceived child difficulty was stronger for mothers low in anxiety.	NA
Rholes, Simpson, & Blakely (1995, Study 2)	97 US college students (non-parents)	AAQ	Confidence in ability to be a good parent	Avoidance related to less confidence in ability to be a good parent.	NA
				Anxiety related to less confidence in ability to be a good parent.	NA
			Concerns about psychological costs of childrearing	Attachment style unrelated to concerns about psychological costs of childrearing.	NA
Rholes, Simpson, Blakely, Lanigan, & Allen (1997, Study 1)	379 US college students (non-parents)	AAQ	Beliefs about importance of warmth in parent-child relationship	Avoidance related to advocating less warmth in parent-child relationships in both men and women.	−.14**
				Anxiety related to advocating less warmth in parent-child relationships in both men and women.	−.15**
			Beliefs about strict discipline	Avoidance related to endorsing more strict/harsh discipline practices in both men and women.	.15**
				Anxiety related to endorsing more strict/harsh discipline practices in both men and women.	.16**
			Beliefs about encouraging child’s independence	Attachment style unrelated to beliefs about encouraging independence.	−.01, −.09
			Perception of childcare as stressful and aggravating	Avoidance related to higher expectations of being aggravated by children in both men and women. Anxiety related to higher expectations of being aggravated by children in both men and women.	.25**
				Anxiety related to higher expectations of being aggravated by children in both men and women.	.37**
			Confidence in ability to relate well to children	Avoidance negatively related to perceived ability to relate well to children in both men and women.	−.28**
				Anxiety negatively related to perceived ability to relate well to children in both men and women.	−.24**
Rholes, Simpson, Blakely, Lanigan, & Allen (1997, Study 1), continued	379 US college students (non-parents)	AAQ	Expected satisfaction from parenting	Avoidance negatively related to expected satisfaction from parenting in both men and women.	−.12*
				Anxiety unrelated to expected satisfaction from parenting.	−.05
			Overall orientation toward parenthood	Avoidance related to more negative orientation toward parenthood in both men and women.	NA
				Anxiety related to more negative orientation toward parenthood in both men and women.	NA
Rholes, Simpson, Blakely, Lanigan, & Allen (1997, Study 2)	259 US college students (non-parents)	AAQ	Expectations about child attachment behaviors	Avoidance related to expectation of less secure, more avoidant, and less affectionate behavior in both men and women.	−.16**, .21**, −.20**
				Anxiety unrelated to expectations of child attachment behaviors.	−.10, .05, −.02
			Overall expectation of prospective child	Avoidance related to more negative expectations of prospective children in both men and women.	NA
				Anxiety unrelated to expectations of prospective children.	NA
Rholes et al. (2011)	192 US couples (384 individual parents) studied across the first 2 years of parenthood	ECR	Baby’s interference with romantic relationship	Anxiety positively correlated with perceiving the baby as interfering with the romantic relationship in both mothers and fathers.	M: .00 F: .05
				Anxiety positively correlated with perceiving the baby as interfering with the romantic relationship in both mothers and fathers.	M: .28*** F: .31***
			Baby’s interference with outside activities	Avoidance positively correlated with perceiving the baby as interfering with outside activities in fathers, but not mothers.	M: .10 F: .23**
				Anxiety positively correlated with perceiving the baby as interfering with outside activities in mothers, but not fathers.	M: .16* F: .14
Scharf & Mayseless (2011)	60 Israeli males assessed during senior year of high school and again 8 to 9 years later	H&S	Perceived ability to relate to children	Avoidance negatively correlated with ability to relate to children 9 years later, but marginal in regression.	−.30*
				Anxiety negatively correlated with ability to relate to children 9 years later, but marginal in regression.	−.30*
			Expected satisfaction from parenting	Anxiety unrelated to expected parental satisfaction 9 years later.	−.17
				Anxiety unrelated to expected parental satisfaction 9 years later.	−.05
			Perception of self as future parent	Avoidance unrelated to perceptions of self as future parent 9 years later.	−.16
				Anxiety negatively correlated with positive perception of self as parent 9 years later, but marginal in regression.	−.27*
			Perceptions of future children	Avoidance unrelated to perceptions of future child 9 years later.	−.17
				Anxiety unrelated to perceptions of future child 9 years later.	−.03
Scher & Mayseless (1994)	118 Israeli mothers assessed when infants were 9 and 12 months old	ADQ	Perceived importance of behavioral and socialization skills of child	Avoidance unrelated to perceived importance of behavioral and socialization skills of child.	−.12 to −.05
				Anxiety negatively correlated with perceived importance of the development of social skills, self-help skills, and independence.	−.19*, −.22*, −.22*
Scher & Mayseless (1997)	118 Israeli mothers assessed when children were 3 and 9 months old.	ACQ	Changes in perceptions of infant temperament from 3 to 9 months of age	Avoidance related to an increase in mother- reported child negative emotionality from 3 to 9 months.	NA
				Anxiety unrelated to changes in perceptions of infant temperament.	NA
Snell, Overbey, & Brewer (2005)	960 adults (82% from US; 53% of adults were parents).	RQ	Parenting perfectionism	Fearful and preoccupied participants reported being overly perfectionist about their own and their partners’ parenting.	NA
				Secure participants endorsed more adaptive aspects of parenting perfectionism.	NA
Vasquez, Durik, & Hyde (2002)	1120 US parents (570 mothers) assessed when children were 12 months and 4.5 years old.	RQ	Perception of parenthood as rewarding	Secure fathers rated parenthood as more rewarding than dismissing and fearful fathers. No significant attachment-related differences in mothers.	Sec > Dis, Fear r1F= .07, .22
			Concerns related to parenthood	Secure mothers and fathers reported fewer concerns about parenting compared to dismissing, preoccupied, and fearful parents.	Sec < Dis, Pre, Fear r1M = −.29, −.22, −.47
					r1F = −.13, −.14, −.26

Note. H&S = Hazan & Shaver, 1987); r¹ = effect size correlation calculated from means and standard deviations or t-statistic; AASS = Adult Attachment Style Scale (Mikulincer, Florian, & Tolmacz, 1990); AAQ = Adult Attachment Questionnaire (Simpson, Rholes, & Phillips, 1996); I = intervention group correlation; C = control group correlation; ECR = Experiences in Close Relationships Scale (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998); M = mother correlation; F = father correlation; RSQ = Relationship Scales Questionnaire (Griffin & Bartholomew, 1994); NA = effect size not available; ASQ = Attachment Style Questionnaire (J. A. Feeney, Noller, & Hanrahan, 1994); RQ = Relationship Questionnaire (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991; ACQ = Attachment Concerns Questionnaire (Mayseless, 1995); AAS = Adult Attachment Scale (Collins & Read, 1990); ADQ = Attachment Dimensions Questionnaire (Scher & Mayseless, 1994).

^aEffect sizes not corrected for small or unequal samples due to insufficient information.

^†p < .10.

^*p < .05.

^**p < .01.

^***p < .001.