Objective: Attachment is a strong and emotional connection to the person associated with the birth of an infant. This study was planned to determine the status of paternal infant attachment and the factors that affect the attachment of 4–12-month-old infant in a public hospital.
Materials and Methods: The study was conducted with 179 fathers, who had children between the ages of 4 months and 12 months, who were referred to a public hospital child polyclinic. Data were collected between March-June 2017, using the “Personal Information Form” and the “Paternal İnfant Attachment Scale.” The data are presented as numbers, percentages, mean, and standard deviation, and the groups were compared using the Student’s-t, Anova (F), Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallis tests (p<0.05).
Results: The “Paternal Infant Attachment Scale” (PIAS) levels of the fathers participating in the study are 84.67±9.00. According to the parents who had two or more children and fathers with one child, the score of PIAS in them was higher than that of the parents who received university education (p<0.05). The PIAS score of the fathers with moderate monthly income was statistically higher than the fathers who had low monthly income and the fathers who defined their relationship with their fathers as good (p<0.05). The gender and age of the baby, the age of father for the first time, working status, duration of marriage, type of family, and the condition of the baby were not significantly correlated with the PIAS score of the fathers (p<0.05).
Conclusion: In the study, it was concluded that fathers scored higher than the infant attachment scale. The number of children, the age of the father, his education, his income level, and his level of relationship with his father were related to his father’s attachment to the baby.
Cite this article as: Türk Düdükcü F, Taş Aslan F. Paternal-Infant Attachment and Determination of Factors Affecting Attachment. Arc Health Sci Res 2020; 7(1): 43-9.