Attachment between parents and children is the foundation of the development of children. Limited research has been done about the role of attachment with fathers in the development of children....Show moreAttachment between parents and children is the foundation of the development of children. Limited research has been done about the role of attachment with fathers in the development of children. However, fathers fulfill an important parenting role in the society, which makes it important to involve fathers in research. Therefore, the present study investigates the predictive role of attachment with fathers and mothers on the development of emotion regulation in children. The research question is: 'To what extent does a more fearful and avoidant attachment with fathers and mothers predict the emotion regulation of the child?' To answer this question, the emotion regulation strategies 'Acceptance' and 'Catastrophizing' are examined. A correlational study was conducted using a subset of the data from the Three Generation Parenting Study by Buisman and colleagues (2020). Children (N = 192) from 16 to 65 years old were involved (Boys: N = 80, Girls: N = 112), whose parents were still alive and with which they were still in contact. To measure the attachment forms and the use of cognitive emotion regulation strategies, the participants had to complete questionnaires (ECR-RS & CERQ) in the lab of the University of Leiden. The study found that fearful and avoidant attachment with parents explained a unique part of the variance of using both cognitive emotion regulation strategies. Looking at the separate contributions of the attachment relationships, only a more fearful and avoidant attachment with fathers had a significant predictive role in using the cognitive emotion regulation strategy 'Catastrophizing'. The results suggest that, to prevent psychosocial problems, it is important to give emotion regulation therapy to children who are insecure attached to their parent(s). Furthermore, it is essential to use Acceptance-Based Therapies, because ‘Acceptance’ is a more robust regulation strategy when children are insecure attached to their parents.Show less
