Adolescent Perceived Attachment to Parents in Relation to Competence, Depression, and Anxiety

Attachment theory leads to the suggestion that the supportive function of attachment relations may be most salient during early adolescent transitions, such as the child's transition into junior high. To test these effects, questionnaire measures of attachment to parents, emotional autonomy, perceived self-competence, depression, and anxiety were completed by forty-seven 12-year-olds at three times: the last semester of sixth grade, the first 2 months of seventh grade (in a junior high school), and the last semester of seventh grade. Correlational results revealed that attachment to parents was significantly and positively correlated with measures of self-perceived competence, especially during the child's transition into junior high (Time 2). Also, attachment to parents was found to be significantly but negatively related to adolescent feelings of depression and anxiety. These results support the expected emergence, during transitional periods, of the buffering effect of parent-adolescent attachment for adolescent feelings of competence and emotional well-being.