Authors: Stephen Stansfeld Jenny Head Mel Bartley Peter Fonagy
Publish Date: 2008/03/15
Volume: 43, Issue: 7, Pages: 516-526
Abstract
The effects of childhood social adversity on developing parent/child attachments may partially explain the effects of less advantaged childhood social position on adulthood mental health Associations between social position retrospectively recalled parental style and childhood emotional and physical deprivation and attachment were examined in 7276 civil servants from the Whitehall II Study Depressive symptoms were associated with insecure attachment style Social position was not associated with attachment styles However fathers’ social class was strongly associated with material and emotional deprivation In turn deprivation was associated with lower parental warmth High parental warmth was associated with decreased risk of insecure attachment styles Despite the methodological shortcomings of retrospective childhood data the results suggest material and emotional adversity influence the development of attachment through parental style notably parental warmth
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