The caregiving system represents a behavioral system that most directly organizes parental behaviors, emotions, and cognitions. Individual differences in parental attachment can help us explain whether the caregiving system will function properly since it is based on attachment models that were formed during the parents' childhood. This master's thesis explores how parental attachment is connected to parents’ perception of children's attachment behaviors and how both of these constructs relate to parental stress. To check these hypotheses 327 parents (315 mothers) of children between the ages of one and six completed the Parental stress scale (PSS), Experiences in close relationships – Revised (ECR-R), and newly developed questionnaire on the Experience of children's attachment behaviors, which includes a scale for experiencing children's exploratory behaviors and a scale for experiencing children's attachment behaviors. The results showed that the levels of anxiety and avoidance in romantic relationships are connected to higher discomfort with the child's attachment behaviors. The levels of anxiety and avoidance and the discomfort with children's attachment behaviors are also significantly correlated with the level of parenting stress. Parental attachment patterns thus influence their perception of their child's attachment behaviors, which suggests important implications for future research and development of preventative programs and interventions for parents. The fact that parental anxiety and avoidance, as well as parental experience of children's attachment behaviors, contribute to parental stress, also opens the possibilities for the development of preventative programs for parents that would focus on their attachment experiences and would aim to adjust parental beliefs and current behavioral models in a way that would support the development of secure attachment in children.
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