The relation of attachment security to adolescents' paternal and peer relationships, depression, and externalizing behavior.
The relation of attachment security to multiple domains of psychosocial functioning was examined in a community sample of 167 early adolescents. Security of attachment organization, assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview, was linked to success in establishing autonomy while maintaining a sense of relatedness both with fathers and with peers, even after accounting for predictions from qualities of the mother-teen relationship. Growth curve analyses revealed links of insecurity to increasing patterns of externalizing behavior and higher and stable patterns of depressive symptoms across adolescence. Implications for a developing theory of the connections of the attachment system to multiple domains of functioning in adolescence are discussed.
Allen
Joseph P
JP
Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville 22904-4400, USA. allen@virginia.edu
Porter
Maryfrances
M
McFarland
Christy
C
McElhaney
Kathleen Boykin
KB
Marsh
Penny
P
D000293:Adolescent; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007207:Individuation; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009769:Object Attachment; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology; D010379:Peer Group; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011779:Q-Sort; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012963:Sociometric Techniques