Although years of research have established that attachment representations are not
consistently transmitted from parent to child (also known as the transmission gap), the
reasons for this gap remain relatively unknown. This transmission gap exists between
parents and peers as well. The purpose of this thesis was to examine the role of
caregiving sensitivity in the relationship between parent attachment and peer attachment
and to test if caregiving sensitivity helps explains the relationship between parent
attachment and peer attachment. This study found support for the transmission of
attachment from parent to peers, but not that caregiving sensitivity explains this
transmission. Results indicate that parenting caregiving sensitivity questionnaires are
inconsistent in assessing the construct of sensitivity. Parenting caregiving sensitivity
questionnaires also do not measure the same concepts as peer caregiving sensitivity
questionnaires. These findings suggest that assessing caregiving sensitivity in parents
differently may help close the transmission gap.
Author Keywords: attachment, caregiving, parenting, peer, sensitivity