Adult attachment and parenting stress among parents of toddlers

Objective: The aim was to revise the dimensionality of the Relationship Scales Questionnaire (RSQ) assessing adult attachment and relate it to parenting stress within a large sample of parents of toddlers. Methods: As part of a longitudinal population-based study, 8122 parents (97% mothers) completed the 18 item version of RSQ and the Swedish Parenthood Stress Questionnaire (SPSQ) when their child was 2-3 years of age. Results: Exploratory factor analyses gave three uncorrelated RSQ-factors named (1) Importance of Independence, (2) Relationship-related Anxiety, and (3) Discomfort with Closeness, with Cronbach’s α ≥ 0.65. In a linear regression Parenting Stress was most closely related to Relationship-related Anxiety (b=0.20, t=39.0), weaker associations were found with the attachment dimensions capturing avoidance: Importance of Independence (b=0.07, t=13.40) and Discomfort with Closeness (b=0.07, t=12.04). The SPSQ-subscales Incompetence (R 2 = 17%) and Social Isolation (R 2 = 22%) showed stronger association with adult attachment than the remaining three. Conclusion: The agreement with previous findings in other study populations indicates that substantial and meaningful dimensions of attachment have been captured. Attachment anxiety and discomfort with closeness seem to have an important relationship with the perception of parenting stress, especially concerning feelings of incompetence and social isolation.