The relation of attachment security to adolescents' paternal and peer relationships, depression, and externalizing behavior

Child Dev. 2007 Jul-Aug;78(4):1222-39. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01062.x.

Abstract

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Depression / diagnosis
  • Depression / psychology*
  • Father-Child Relations*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Individuation
  • Internal-External Control*
  • Interpersonal Relations
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Mother-Child Relations
  • Object Attachment*
  • Parenting / psychology
  • Peer Group*
  • Personality Assessment
  • Q-Sort
  • Social Adjustment*
  • Sociometric Techniques