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New findings on the parents' role in the development of the child's attachment
Zlatka Cugmas
Full text (pdf) | Views: 30 | Written in Slovene. | Published: June 1, 2001
Abstract: The theory of attachment considers the sensitivity of the mother of great importance in the development of the child's attachment. However, despite the numerous relations between the mother's sensitivity and the category of the child's attachment, many questions related to this topic remain unanswered. The aim of this contribution is to find answers to some of these questions, namely: to what extent the variability in the parents' sensitivity explains the variability in the quality of the child's attachment; does the role of the parents in the development of the child's attachment undergo changes regarding the child's age; what kind of role can other persons, who take care of the child, have; and which factors alongside sensitivity influence the child's attachment. As I studied the recent literature on attachment I found that the relations between the sensitivity of the parents and the category of the child's attachment are moderate; that the sensitivity of the mother plays a more important role in the development of the child's attachment than the sensitivity of the father; that the sensitivity is the more important predictor of attachment of younger than older children; and that sensitivity of other persons, who take care of the child, can compensate for the child's anxious attachment to child's mother. I conclude the paper with several questions, which cropped up in the course of the study and are needy of systematic research in the future.
Keywords: attachment, sensitivity, childhood, compensation, development theory, literature review
