Attachment in families created through assisted reproductive techniques: results from the first study using the Strange Situation Procedure in same-sex and different-sex parent families.

Abstract

The Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) has long been central to attachment research but has rarely been applied to diverse family forms, such as same-sex parent families and families formed through assisted reproductive technologies (ART). This study was the first to use the SSP to compare attachment classifications across same-sex male parent families, same-sex female parent families, and different-sex parent families formed through ART. Data came from the New Parents Study, including 229 parent-child dyads (115 families, including 16 twin families) from the Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom, with children assessed around 12 months of age. Multinominal regression analyses showed no associaton between family type and attachment classification. However, children from the Netherlands were more likely to be classified as securely attached. These findings suggest that infant-parent attachment secruity does not differ by family type, expanding the understanding of attachment beyond the traditional mother-father paradigm.