Investigation of mothers and fathers' attachment to their babies and their social support perception

In the current study, it was aimed to investigate the level of attachment of mothers and fathers having babies aged 6-12 months to their babies and some variables that might affect this level of attachment. For this purpose, the current study employed the correlational research model, one of the quantitative research methods. The study group of the current research is comprised of 168 mothers and 168 fathers who live in Ankara, who have babies aged 6-12 months and who are still married. In the data collection process, a "Demographic Information Form" was used to elicit personal information about the mothers, fathers and babies; the "Multi-dimensional Perceived Social Support Scale" was used to measure the level of social support perceived by the mothers and fathers and the "Maternal Attachment Scale" was administered to the mothers and the "Father-Baby Attachment Scale" was administered to the fathers to measure their level of attachment to their babies. In order to determine the data analysis method, the distributions of the scores belonging to the dependent variables were examined by using Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests and the distributions were found to be not normal. Thus, non-parametric statistical techniques were used in the analyses conducted. In the analysis of the data, Spearman Brown Rank Correlation Coefficient analysis was used while determining the correlations between the variables and Kruskall-Wallis H test and Mann-Whitney U test were used for difference analysis. According to the results obtained, the correlation between the mothers 'level of babies attachment and the fathers' level of babies attachment was found to be medium and significant. Similarly, a medium and significant correlation was found between the levels of social support perceived by the mothers and fathers. While the mothers' level of to mothers babies attachment was found to be moderately correlated with their perceived social support, a low and significant correlation was found between the fathers' level of to hers babies attachment and their perceived social support. When the effects of the variables thought to affect the attachment were examined, it was found that the level of attachment varies significantly depending on the mother's age, education level and the birth order of the baby and the father's age, education level, the birth order of the baby and whether the pregnancy is planned. Accordingly, with the mothers and fathers' increasing age, their level of attachment to their babies decreases; with their increasing level of education, their level of attachment increases; the fathers and mothers have a higher level of attachment to their first borns than their other children and the age of the baby is not effective on mothers and fathers' of to babies attachment. When the effects of the same variables on the mothers and fathers' perceived social support were examined, it was found that with increasing level of the mothers and fathers' education, their level of perceived social support also increases, and that their level of perceived social support does not vary significantly depending on the gender of the baby, the birth order of the baby and whether the pregnancy is planned. As a result of this study, it was revealed that there is a positive significant relationship between the attachment levels of parents with babies between the ages of 6-12 months and the social support they perceive.