PATERNAL SEPARATION ANXIETY - RELATIONSHIPS WITH PARENTING STRESS, CHILD-REARING ATTITUDES, AND MATERNAL ANXIETIES

Employed mothers of young children worry about the effects of daily se paration on their children. Do fathers have similar anxieties? Because fathers are expected to leave the home and go to work, psychologists have not studied fathers' concerns about daily separation from their b abies and preschool children. In this study, we investigated fathers' and mothers' separation anxiety and the relationships between separati on anxiety and family and child-care characteristics. The sample inclu ded 589 married couples from a larger study of families and center-bas ed child care. Data were collected through in-home and center visits. Fathers and mothers had similar levels of Separation Anxiety. However, fathers reported slightly higher Concern for the Child, and mothers r eported higher Employment Concerns. Fathers' perceptions of their wive s' anxieties were higher by half a standard deviation compared with mo thers' reports. Fathers' and mothers' self-reported separation anxieti es were modestly correlated. Paternal separation anxiety was most stro ngly associated with fathers' perceptions of their wives' separation c oncerns, not with mothers' reported anxieties, which suggested ego def ensiveness and projection.