Effect of Attachment on Marital Satisfaction and Parenthood

Abstract

The literature review presented herewith includes peer-reviewed articles integrating research from 1977 to 2009, with a two-fold purpose: To support the notion of the effect of attachment within the marital-parenting dyad, and to illustrate consistency in the body of work regarding attachment and relationships across time. Marital dissatisfaction during parenthood is an issue that continues to impact marriage and family counselors. Based on research studies, internal processes and unspoken conflicts within the couple dating back to the courtship phase seem to come to the surface during childrearing. All the samples used in the studies presented herewith were randomly stratified. Participants included in the articles reviewed for the current analysis consist of couples who had been married between six (6) months and 15 years with children ranging in age from infancy to adolescence. Limitations among the findings presented herewith include the application of self-reports, the short-term methodology, and the limited number of diverse participants in the samples.