Child attachment security and self-concept: Associations with mother and father attachment style and marital quality

Children's (n = 216) attachment security and self-concept were predicted fr om parents' reports of their own attachment style and marital adjustment. S tructural equation modeling indicated that mothers' anxious attachment styl e uniquely predicted children's insecure attachment to both mother and fath er in turn, associations of child-mother attachment with specific self-conc ept domains differed from those of child-father attachment with self concep t across age. For example, child-mother attachment was associated uniquely with perceived global self-worth and physical appearance for both younger ( 9-12 years) and older (13-14 years) children. In contrast, child-father att achment was associated uniquely with child-perceived school competence, and only for older children with global self-worth.