Characteristics of Caregiving Practices in Colombian Families with Children in Early Childhood in Forcibly Displaced Situation

Abstract

The study’s main purpose was to characterize the quality of caregiving, disciplinary practices, child attachment security, and child development in 10 families’ study cases with their young children at internal armed conflict and forcibly displaced. The methodological design was a mixed methods explanatory design. Data collected with instruments derived from Attachment Theory, and self-report measures showed significant associations between caregiver sensitivity and child development (r = 0.63, p < 0.05), and between child attachment security and maternal caregiving domains (r = 0.91, p < 0.01). Non-harsh disciplinary practices are significant and negatively associated to child attachment security (r = -0.88, p < 0.01). Following methodological principles based on Grounded Theory emergent categories were obtained about intergenerational transmission of childrearing practices and current parental caregiving practices. Findings identified some protective factors (reflective processes regarding inadequate childrearing patterns) and risk factors (maintenance of physical punishment practices, especially with girls).