Poster #146 - More soup for you? Fathers' attachment representations and infant feeding practices

• In Event: 2-110 - Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

This study examined how fathers’ adult attachment representations, assessed prenatally, predict their feeding practices with their 8-month-old infants. Feeding is a primary parenting task in infancy that is relational in nature, suggesting that theoretical approaches emphasizing relationships may be effective modes for understanding caregiver-infant interactions during feeding. Infant-caregiver attunement during feeding supports the developing infant capacity to identify their own hunger and satiety cues (Black & Aboud, 2011), which may protect against later overweight and obesity (Frankel et al., 2012). Controlling feeding behaviors, on the other hand, can interfere with children’s developing understanding of their bodies’ internal cues (Patrick et al., 2013) and have been linked to poor child health outcomes (Birch et al., 2003; Blissett et al., 2010). A growing number of studies have revealed a clear link between mothers’ adult attachment and how they feed their children (e.g., Pickard et al., 2017; Powell et al., 2016). Most of these studies employ cross-sectional survey methods, which are useful for assessing associations between factors, but do not examine predictive factors or actual, observable behavior. Further, fathers are underrepresented in feeding research, particularly in longitudinal and observational studies (Khandpur et al., 2014). The present study is the first to longitudinally examine paternal adult attachment as a prenatal predictor of fathers’ feeding behavior with their 8-month old infants. Participants were 118 first-time fathers and their infants. Adult Attachment Interviews (AAI; George et al., 1985) were conducted in the third trimester of pregnancy. Fathers were observed feeding their infants at home at 8 months. Feedings were videotaped and later coded using Chatoor’s Feeding Scale (Chatoor et al., 1997). Hierarchical linear regressions were used to examine relations between fathers’ AAI classifications and their feeding practices. Compared to all other fathers, (1) fathers with secure attachment representations were more attuned during feeding, b=.20, p>.05; (2) fathers with dismissing representations were less attuned, b=-.22, p>.05; (3) fathers with preoccupied representations displayed marginally higher conflictual behaviors, b=.18, p=.07; and (4) fathers with unresolved trauma displayed more controlling behaviors, b=.22, p>.05. This is the first study to show that fathers’ adult attachment representations predict their observed feeding behaviors with their own infants. Fathers with secure classifications were able to attune to their infants during feeding, which supports infants’ developing food autonomy. Fathers with dismissing classifications showed less attunement during feeding, perhaps because dismissing parents are more likely to use deactivating strategies in stressful situations, which may impair their ability to attune to their infant, particularly if the infant is distressed. Fathers’ with unresolved trauma used more controlling feeding practices with their infants than other fathers, which could interfere with their child’s developing ability to understand their internal cues for hunger and satiety. Future research should examine connections between paternal attachment, feeding practices, and infant outcomes. This study’s longitudinal design demonstrated that fathers’ feeding practices can be predicted prenatally. This has important implications for intervention, suggesting that intervention efforts can begin before birth.

Authors

• Samantha Reisz, University of Cambridge
  Presenting Author

• Ashleigh I. Aviles, The University of Texas at Austin
  Non-Presenting Author

• Serena Messina, University of Texas at Austin
  Non-Presenting Author

• Robbie Duschinsky, University of Cambridge
  Non-Presenting Author

• Deborah Jacobvitz, The University of Texas at Austin
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nancy Hazen, The University of Texas at Austin
  Non-Presenting Author