Quality of Attachment As a Predictor of Parental Visitation When a Young Child or Infant is Hospitalized

Abstract

The Problem. This study examined factors predicting parental visitation with hospitalized children. It was hypothesized that parental visitation and rooming-in decisions would be predicted by quality of attachment, socioeconomic status, parental anxiety, and family and child characteristics. Procedure. A total of 101 parents completed the Speilberger Stat-Trait Anxiety Inventory, a 12 item attachment measure based on the Waters & Deane Q-sort, and a demographic questionnaire. The children were 10 months to 4 years old (53 males, 48 females) and were hospitalized for non-surgical illness Findings. Stepwise multiple regression analyses indicated quality of attachment and socioeconomic status were the strongest predictors of parental visitation. Parent reported attachment was negatively correlated with state and trait anxiety. Conclusions. Attachment figures who report insecure attachment visit their hospitalized children less frequently than parents who report secure attachment. Parents with insecure parent / child attachment also report higher levels of both state and trait anxiety. Recommendations. Further research is needed to better understand parent/child relationships and their role in predicting parental visitation behavior when a child is hospitalized.