ATTACHMENT MATCHING AND CO-PARENTAL INTUITIVE INTERACTIONS IN SAME-SEX AND OPPOSITE-SEX COUPLES WHO PROGRAMMING PARENTHOOD

Research has shown that parents own implicit communicative abilities allow them to care for and stimulate their baby and to cooperate co-parents in order to support infant development. The aim of this study was to explore how partners’ adult attachment styles match in order to ensure a higher quality of intuitive co-parental interaction. Two characteristics of adult attachment style have been investigated in this study: a) the couple average level of security in attachment; b) the difference in attachment security within the couple. One-hundred fifteen unmarried Lesbian Gay Heterosexuals couples were recruited across Italy and Belgium (Belgium N = 128; Italy N = 102; 64 Gay M=29.05, SD=7.22; 62 Lesbians M=25.98, SD=5.15; 96 Heterosexuals M=25.00, SD=4.08). We used the Security Scale of the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ), to operationalize the construct of attachment matching. Two variables for the attachment matching within the couple members have been created-: CAAS (Couple Average Attachment Security) and CDAS (Couple Difference Attachment Security). Co-parental intuitive abilities have been assessed via Prenatal Lausanne Trilogue Play paradigm. We performed a multiple regression analysis to test main effects, as well as the interaction, between CAAS and CDAS in predicting intuitive co-parenting. Results revealed a significant interaction between CAAS and CDAS. The interpretation of the interaction effect showed that CAAS has a negative non-significant effect when CDAS score is high but a positive marginally significant effect when CDAS is low. The mean of security between partners has an effect on co-parental intuitive behaviors only when the two partners have a similar level of attachment security. Results show how a similar pattern of attachment between the partners predict the quality of co-parental interactions irrespective of whether the parenting couple comprised two mothers, two fathers or a heterosexual mother and father.