3-061 - Parenting Adolescents: An Attachment Perspective

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

A vast body of research has examined aspects of parenting that predict child attachment security/insecurity in infancy and early childhood. However, we know much less about the parental contributions to security/insecurity in adolescence and beyond. The four papers in this symposium demonstrate how various parental factors relate to: (a) adolescent state of mind with respect to attachment in the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), and/or (b) adolescent attachment-related behavior in observed interactions with parents.

Paper 1 utilizes data from a 2-year longitudinal study to examine how caregiver state of mind in the AAI relates to adolescent state of mind in the AAI. This paper also examines the mediating role of adolescent perceptions of parental availability and the moderating role of adolescent gender. Paper 2 utilizes data from a 10-year longitudinal study to examine how parental factors such as psychological control, marital discord, and parental alcohol abuse relate to attachment security in adolescence and young adulthood and to changes in attachment security over time. Paper 3 examines how mothers’ and fathers’ self-reported attachment styles relate to observed adolescent secure base use and explores parental hostility and adolescents’ perceptions of their parents (e.g., as warm, available/responsive) as potential mediators of this link. Finally, Paper 4 examines the relation between childhood abuse and attachment disorganization in adolescence and tests maternal helplessness and need for emotional support as mediators of this link. Together, these papers highlight the utility of taking an attachment perspective to studying parenting during adolescence and suggest important directions for future research.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chairs

• Jude A. Cassidy, University of Maryland at College Park

• Jason D. Jones, Univ of Maryland College Park

Individual Presentations

• Predictors of Adolescents’ Expectancies and States of Mind in the AAI: Intergenerational Transmission and Caregiver Support - Presenting Author: Roger Kobak, Univ of Delaware; Kristyn Zajac, Medical University of South Carolina; Alisa Hohler, University of Delaware

• Predictors of Changing Attachment Security From 14 to 24: Autonomy Struggles, Supportive Behaviors, & Parental Marital Quality - Presenting Author: Joseph P Allen, University of Virginia; Joseph S. Tan, University of Virginia; Leah A. Grande, University of Virginia

• Parental Attachment Style: Examination of Links with Parent Secure Base Provision and Adolescent Secure Base Use - Presenting Author: Jason D. Jones, Univ of Maryland College Park; Jude A. Cassidy, University of Maryland at College Park

• Disorganized Attachment in Adolescence: Relations to Severity of Abuse and Mother’s Helplessness and Need for Emotional Support - Presenting Author: Laura E Brumariu, Adelphi University; Karlen Lyons-Ruth, Harvard University