Fathers’ Emotion Regulation, Mindful Parenting, and Adolescent Attachment Quality

Background: Adolescents’ insecure attachment to their fathers is associated with adolescent behavioral and mental health problems. Two factors that shape the quality of father-child attachment are fathers’ emotion regulation (e.g., suppression, dysregulation) and mindful parenting, a non-judgemental awareness of emotion in parenting. Methods: We used structural equation modelling to examine the associations between fathers’ emotion regulation in their relationship with their child, mindful parenting, and the quality of father–teen attachment in a clinical sample of adolescents. Participants were 104 fathers of youth (Mage = 13 years) referred for mental health services. Results: Although fathers’ emotion regulation and mindful parenting were each related to parent-child attachment security, when examined jointly only fathers’ emotion dysregulation was significantly associated with higher levels of adolescent insecure attachment. Follow-up analyses revealed that the effect of dysregulation on attachment was driven by its association with avoidant, rather than anxious attachment. Conclusions: Parental emotion regulation is crucial to establishing secure father–adolescent attachment. The present study provides evidence that fathers’ emotion dysregulation in particular is significantly associated with insecure father–teen attachment in a clinical sample. We discuss the implications of these findings for parenting interventions, given that a secure father–teen relationship is important for reducing teen externalizing problems.