Latent profiles of parental attachment styles and their associations with parenting behaviors among parents of school-aged children

This study utilized Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) to identify attachment style latent profiles among parents of school-aged children and examine their association with parenting behaviors. Analysis of attachment anxiety and avoidance dimensions revealed four distinct parental profiles: low anxiety/avoidance, high anxiety/moderate avoidance, moderate anxiety/avoidance, and high anxiety/avoidance. Low anxiety/avoidance parents demonstrated significantly greater acceptance than all other latent profiles. Conversely, parents in high anxiety profiles exhibited significantly more rejecting behaviors than low anxiety latent profile. Notably, no sex differences emerged in profile distribution or parenting patterns. These findings reveal heterogeneous parental attachment configurations and establish attachment style as a robust correlate of parenting. This highlights the critical link between parental attachment representations and caregiving practices.