Attachment and family functioning across three generations

Smrtnik Vitulić, Helena (author), Gosar, David (author), Prosen, Simona (author)

The present study explores the transmission of attachment and family functioning across three generations. It is based on a sample of 460 female emerging adults (aged 18–26), their mothers (N = 440), fathers (N = 368), maternal grandmothers (N = 224), and maternal grandfathers (N = 113). Participants self-assessed their attachment anxiety and avoidance using the Relationship Style Questionnaire and evaluated the functioning of their families of origin using the Family Adaptation and Cohesion Scale–IV. The results reveal two mechanisms, both of which have a small but significant effect on the development of attachment across generations. The first operates via direct trans-generational transmission of attachment from parent to child, mainly involving the mother–child dyad, while the second operates through primary family functioning, especially balanced family cohesion, but also enmeshment and chaos in the case of attachment avoidance. The findings highlight the importance of including content related to attachment and family functioning in intervention programs.

• Language: English
• Keywords: attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, family adaptability, family cohesion, trans-generational transmission
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: PEF - Faculty of Education
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: Str. 775-794
• Numbering: Vol. 62, iss. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-137813
• UDC: 316.36:159.9
• ISSN on article: 1545-5300
• DOI: 10.1111/famp.12787
• COBISS.SI-ID: 113198851
• Publication date in RUL: 01.07.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Family process
• Shortened title: Fam. proc.
• Publisher: Wiley, Family Process Institute
• ISSN: 1545-5300
• COBISS.SI-ID: 517709593

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
• Description: A creative commons license that bans commercial use, but the users don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: družinska prilagodljivost, navezanost, anksioznost, medgeneracijsko povezovanje, družinska kohezija, transgeneracijski prenos, družina