More secure attachment to the father and the mother is associated with fewer depressive symptoms in adolescents

Longitudinal Associations Between Relationship Quality and Depression Among Youth with Intellectual Disabilities: A Latent Change Perspective

This study investigates associations between initial levels and change in the quality of the relationships youth with intellectual disabilities (ID) share with their parents and teachers, and changes in their levels of depression over time. A sample of 395 youth with mild (48.3%) and moderate (51.7%) ID, aged between 11 and 22 (M = 15.69), were recruited in Canada (n = 142) and Australia (n = 253). Youth completed self-report measures of relationship quality and depression twice over a one-year period. Initial levels of warmth (β = - .109) and conflict (β = - .302) predicted decreases in depression. Increases in warmth predicted decreases in depression (β = - .179), while increases in conflict predicted increases in depression (β = .268). Discrepancies between youth relationships with their parents and teachers predicted decreases in depression (βwarmth = - .732; βconflict = - .608).

Parent-Child Attachment Security and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescence: The Mediating Roles of Gratitude and Forgiveness

Although greater parent-child attachment security is linked with children's lower levels of depressive symptoms, little research has evaluated potential explanatory mechanisms. We investigated whether dispositional gratitude and interpersonal forgiveness explain the relation between attachment security with parents and early adolescents' depressive symptoms. Early adolescents (N = 105; M age = 12.3 years; 51% girls) completed questionnaires assessing their attachment security to mother and father figures, depressive symptoms, and dispositional gratitude, and an interview assessing interpersonal forgiveness. Results revealed that greater attachment security to mothers and fathers was associated with fewer depressive symptoms and greater levels of dispositional gratitude and interpersonal forgiveness. Further, dispositional gratitude and interpersonal forgiveness were negatively associated with depressive symptoms. Dispositional gratitude emerged as a mediator between attachment security with each parent and depressive symptoms. Our findings suggest that greater parent-child security may promote early adolescents' appreciation of positive events, which in turn may relate to fewer depressive symptoms.

Self-Esteem Moderates the Relationship Between Secure Attachment and Internalizing and Externalizing Problems in Preadolescence

This longitudinal study examined the interactive effects of secure attachment and self-esteem on change in internalizing and externalizing problems in a sample of preadolescents. 407 youth (M_age = 11.1 years) completed measures of self-esteem, secure attachment style, and peer nomination inventories tapping internalizing and externalizing problems at the beginning of the fourth and fifth grades. Results suggest that internalizing and externalizing problems may be reduced for securely attached youth with high self-esteem. Implications for future research are examined, along with a discussion on clinical applications of studies involving interaction effects.

Attachment to Mother and Father, Sleep, and Well-Being in Late Middle Childhood

The security of attachment has been related to several advantageous developmental outcomes, such as good sleep quality and higher well-being indicators. However, few studies concern the associations between attachment dimensions to both parents, sleep, and well-being in late middle childhood. Our study aims to expand knowledge in this area, clarifying the above-mentioned associations by considering the secure base and safe haven dimensions of attachment. We also investigate the role of sleep as a mediator of the relationship between attachment and well-being. The 258 participants (49.2% girls, mean age = 11.19, SD = 0.85) completed self-report questionnaires regarding attachment (KSS), sleep (SSR), and well-being (CHIP-CE). The results show significant associations between attachment to both parents (0.40 ** ≤ r ≤ 0.61 **) and between attachment security, sleep (-0.21 ** ≤ r ≤ -0.35 **) and child well-being (0.42 ** ≤ r ≤ 0.47 **). Besides, sleep quality partially mediated the relations between all attachment dimensions to both parents and well-being. The results are discussed in light of attachment theory, focusing on the comparison between attachment to mother and father as a valid framework to unravel differences in child well-being, with sleep as a process that can help to explain the mechanisms through which attachment security enables subjective perceptions of well-being.

Repairing attachment in families with depressed adolescents: A task analysis

AIMS

This exploratory pilot study (N = 3 sessions, 793 speech units) used task analysis to refine an early model of the attachment task in attachment-based family therapy (ABFT). The attachment task aims to repair long-standing parent-adolescent relational ruptures that inhibit parents from being a resource for adolescents recovering from depression and/or suicidality.

METHODS

Video recordings of three attachment task sessions with strong adherence to the model were selected for intensive study. Two sessions were rated as successful (i.e., attachment was repaired) and one as unsuccessful (i.e., attachment repair did not occur). Sessions were then coded using Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB).

RESULTS

The current SASB analysis provided empirical support for our previous clinical impression that the task involves three parts: (I) adolescent disclosure of attachment rupture, (II) parent disclosure, and (III) a more mutual conversation. SASB also provided insights into more subtle elements of the model.

CONCLUSION

Successful attachment sessions were associated with high parent affiliation and autonomy-both while affirming the adolescent's story and when disclosing their own experience. Unsuccessful task attempts were associated with parental enmeshment and hostile belittling, blaming, and distancing. An enhanced model of ideal parent behaviors during the attachment task is offered, including space for parent disclosure-perhaps even apology-that is both warm and independent, leading to a more mutual parent-adolescent conversation. Clinically, the findings support the importance of the therapist focusing on the process and quality of parent-child interactions to facilitate attachment repair.

COVID anxiety and its predictors among Slovak adolescents

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic and its related restrictions, mainly social distancing, had an impact on the mental health of various groups, including adolescents.

Methods

The main goal of our study was to explore the impact of gender, age, resilience (measured using the Brief Resilience Scale), attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance (both measured using the Experiences in Close Relationships Revised Scale for adolescents), and mental and general health (measured using items of SF-8 Health Survey) on COVID anxiety (measured using the COVID Anxiety Scale) among a sample of Slovak adolescents (N = 1,786, age 15 to 19, mean age = 16.8, SD = 1.2). The data were collected online between 13 April and 24 May 2021.

Results

Four nested linear regression models were fitted to the data and evaluated. The significant predictors that had a greater effect than our smallest effect size of interest (β  = 0.10) were gender (β  = -0.26, p  < 0.001, where boys had lower scores in COVID anxiety), general and mental health (β  = -0.13 and β  = -0.14, respectively, both with p  < 0.001), resilience (β  = -0.12, p  < 0.001), and attachment avoidance (β  = -0.11, p  < 0.001). Similarly, age and attachment anxiety were significant predictors with a lower effect size (β  = 0.06, p  = 0.003, and β  = 0.09, p  < 0.001, respectively).

Discussion

Our results are in line with previous research findings highlighting the importance of prevention and interventions programs focused mainly on preventing loneliness and social disconnection, fostering secure attachment with parents and peers, and increasing the resilience of adolescents, especially in the stressful time of a pandemic, to promote their mental health.

Psychometric validation of two versions of the adolescent Depression Self-Rating Scale (DSRS-A and DSRS-A Screener)

AIM

Examination of psychometric properties and diagnostic accuracy of the Depression Self-Rating Scale for Adolescents (DSRS-A) as well as development and evaluations of a shorter version, DSRS-A-Screener.

METHODS

Analyses of component structure and internal consistency were performed in a community-based sample of adolescents N = 4,506 and among consecutive outpatients from three child psychiatric settings in Sweden (n = 137). Concurrent validity was measured as a correlation between a summation index of the scale items and the total major depressive disorder (MDD) symptom severity score from the Kiddie Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (K-SADS). Diagnostic accuracy was examined in the clinical sample, with the K-SADS interview as the reference test, by receiver operating characteristic analysis (ROC), calculations of sensitivity, specificity among other measures. With the purpose to select items for a shorter scale, associations between scale items and MDD were examined with binary logistic regression. This shorter scale was thereafter examined similarly.

RESULTS

Based on association with MDD, five items were selected for the brief DSRS-A Screener that showed one component structure, internal consistency Cronbach's alpha .80 and.82, respectively. In the clinical population concurrent validity was Spearman's rho .63 and ROC analysis showed AUC .84 (95% CI .78-.91; p < .001). The optimal cut-off for screening was 2 with sensitivity .85 and specificity of .64.

CONCLUSION

The DSRS-A Screener compared to the original scale, maintained or improved reliability, validity, and showed moderate diagnostic accuracy.

Differentiating the effects of anxious and avoidant attachment on depression and resilience following trauma

Objective Few studies have explored the impact of insecure attachment on college student mental health. The present study examined how anxious and avoidant attachment to a mother, father, and best friend were related to depression and resilience in emerging adults exposed to trauma. Participants: Participants included 372 trauma-exposed emerging adults, aged 18-24 (M_age=19.64, SD = 1.62), from a university in the Midsouth, United States. Method: Participants completed an assessment battery of self-report measures to determine how maternal, paternal, and best friend insecure attachment each uniquely contribute to the variance in depression and resilience. Results: Hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed that anxious and avoidant attachment to a best friend were associated with lower resilience, but only anxious attachment to a best friend was associated with more depressive symptoms. Discussion: Findings highlight the importance of cultivating healthy relationships in a university setting to foster secure peer attachments for emerging adults exposed to adversity.

Adolescents' Attachment to Parents and Reactive-Proactive Aggression: The Mediating Role of Alexithymia

Aggressive behaviors can serve different functions, which might be understood by distinguishing between reactive (RA) and proactive (PA) aggression. Few studies were conducted on adolescents’ family precursors and emotional processes associated with RA or PA. Accordingly, the current study compared RA and PA by evaluating their association with adolescents’ attachment to parents and alexithymia. N = 453 Italian adolescents aged 15–19 years (Mage = 16.48; SD = 0.69; 33.6% males) participated in the study filling in self-report measures. Results showed that PA and RA are significantly associated and that PA was higher among males. Moreover, four mediational models were performed to assess the influence of adolescents’ attachment to mothers vs. fathers on RA or PA, considering the mediating role of alexithymia. Gender was included as a covariate. Mediational models’ results showed a direct and indirect effect, through lower alexithymia, of adolescents’ attachment to mothers and fathers on RA. Differently, only attachment to mothers showed a direct effect on PA, while attachment to fathers only an indirect effect, mediated by lower alexithymia, on PA was shown. Findings support the greater relevance of emotional processes for RA while highlighting the differential contribution of adolescents’ attachment to mothers vs. fathers upon PA. Implications are discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided.

A Cross-Cultural Study on Attachment and Adjustment Difficulties in Adolescence: The Mediating Role of Self-Control in Italy, Spain, China, and Poland

From a socio-ecological perspective, individuals are influenced by the interplay of individual, relational, and societal factors operating as a broader system. Thereby, to support youth adjustment during the critical adolescence period, the interplay between these factors should be investigated. This study aimed to investigate cross-cultural differences in adolescents' maternal and paternal attachment, adolescents' adjustment difficulties and self-control, and in their association. N = 1000 adolescents (mean (M) age = 16.94, SD = 0.48; 45.90% males) from China, Italy, Spain, and Poland participated by completing self-report measures. Results showed cross-country similarities and differences among the considered variables and their associative pattern. Moreover, conditional process analysis evaluating the association between maternal vs. paternal attachment and adjustment difficulties, mediated by self-control, and moderated by country, was performed. Maternal attachment directly, and indirectly through greater self-control, influenced adjustment difficulties in all four countries. This association was stronger among Spaniards. Paternal attachment influenced directly, and indirectly through self-control, on adolescents' adjustment difficulties only in Italy, Spain, and Poland, and was stronger among Polish adolescents. For Chinese adolescents, paternal attachment solely associated with adjustment difficulties when mediated by self-control. Thus, results highlighted both similarities and differences across countries in the interplay between maternal vs. paternal attachment and self-control on adolescents' adjustment difficulties. Implications are discussed.

Attachment security predicts adolescents' prosocial and health protective responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

Prosocial and health protective behaviors are critical to contain the COVID‐19 pandemic, yet adolescents have been difficult to engage. Attachment security promotes adolescents’ capacities to navigate stress, and influences prosocial and health behaviors. Drawing on a diverse sample of 202 adolescents (48% female; 47.5% Latinx) this study evaluated relations among attachment, mental health, and prosocial and health protective responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic. Attachment security (age 12) predicted adolescents’ (age 15) COVID‐19 prosocial (f² = .201) and health protective behaviors (f² = .274) during the pandemic via smaller‐than‐expected increases in mental health symptoms above pre‐pandemic levels (age 14). Findings highlight the importance of attachment for supporting adolescents’ mental health responses to life stressors and promoting prosocial and health protective behaviors.

Insecure Attachment as a Risk Factor for the Development of Anxiety and Depression Symptoms in a Sample of Mexican Adults

PURPOSE

This study evaluated the risk posed by attachment type in the development of anxiety or depression symptomatology in Mexican adults.

DESIGN AND METHODS

This was case-control study in which anxiety and depression symptomatology levels were compared according to the attachment type reported by 3,666 participants.

FINDINGS

It was found that insecure attachment is a risk factor (p≤.001) for the development of severe levels of depression (OR = 2.12, CI 95%: 1.66-2.70) and anxiety symptomatology (OR = 1.52, 95% CI: 1.30-1.77). Findings are discussed based on their implications for psychiatric nursing practice.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

The findings of this study enable nurses to consider the empirical validity of attachment theory for studying psychosocial aspects of mental health and to design intervention strategies that promote secure attachment in populations without psychiatric diagnoses to prevent anxiety and depression symptomatology.