Attachment forerunners in fathers with preterm babies

Preterm birth is a stressful and potentially traumatic event for the family. In this critical situation, the psychological characteristics of the father are important for the protection of the family and for the child development. The paternal function is manifested not only by supporting and encouraging his partner to foster a good mother-child bond, but also directly in the relation with the child. Aim of this research was to study the influence of attachment forerunners and dyadic sensitivity of the father in the child development. A sample of 110 father-child couples, 55 with preterm born children (birth weight < 1500 g) and 55 with term born children were assessed from the first 6 months of corrected age. At 3 months of corrected age of the baby, all couples were subjected to CARE-Index, a video-recorded procedure of adult-child spontaneous interaction evaluating parental sensitivity and attachment forerunners. The child’s psychomotor development was assessed at 6 months of corrected age by the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID III). Fathers of preterm children, compared to controls, showed lower dyadic sensitivity scores (p < .01) and more frequent insecure attachment forerunners (p < .01). 75% of these “preterm” fathers falls into the high risk category of the CARE-Index (requiring psychological and/or pharmacological treatment). These factors were associated with lower scores on the psychomotor development of the children at 6 months of corrected age (p < .01). The presence of insecure attachment forerunners and poor dyadic sensitivity – even in fathers with term children – seems to have a negative effect on the psychomotor development of child (p < .05). The results underlines the extreme importance of the quality of the relationship of the father with his baby from the first months of life. Poor parental sensitivity and insecure attachment forerunners influence negatively the psychomotor development of the newborn.