Self-Reported Attachment Style, Anxiety, and Depression in Children

The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between self-reported attachment styles, on the one hand, and levels of anxiety symptoms and depression, on the other hand, in a sample of 12-year-old children ( N = 91). Children completed a simplified version of Hazan and Shaver's (1987) single-item measure of attachment style and self-report measures of anxiety and depression. Results showed that 20.9% of the children classified themselves as insecure (i.e., avoidantly or ambivalently) attached. Furthermore, it was found that insecurely attached children had elevated levels of anxiety symptoms and depression compared to securely attached children.