A central tenet of Bowlby's attachment theory is that early child-caregiver attachment is reflected in the quality of the child's interpersonal relationships throughout life. Schneider, Atkinson, and Tardif (2001) conducted a meta-analysis of studies conducted up to 1998 to corroborate that contention. They found a significant but small to moderate effect size (r = .20). Their finding that studies of friendship bonds had higher effect sizes than studies of other interpersonal relationships has important theoretical ramifications. The present brief report is a meta-analysis that covers research conducted for the same purpose since 1998. The sample consists of 44 studies with a total of 8505 participants. The overall effect size r of .19 (adjusted r = .12; 95% confidence interval, .08-.17) in the current study was similar in magnitude to the effect size reported in the 2001 meta-analysis, documenting consistency in the predictive power of attachment theory. However, we failed to replicate the moderating effect of friendship. One possible explanation for these findings is that the friendships of school-age children and adolescents no longer invoke very high levels of intimacy. Effect sizes are higher in studies conducted outside North America than in U.S.--and Canada-based studies.

Secure attachment relationships have been described as having a regulatory function in regard to children's emotions, social cognition, and behavior. Although some theorists and researchers have argued that attachment affects children's self-regulation, most attachment theorists have not strongly emphasized this association. The goal of the current meta-analysis was to determine the magnitude of the relation between attachment security status and effortful control (EC)/top-down self-regulation in children up to 18 years of age. One hundred six papers met the inclusion criteria and 101 independent samples were used in analyses. When secure attachment status was compared with insecure attachment status, a significant relation (effect size [ES]) with EC favoring children with a secure attachment was found (100 studies; 20,350 participants; r = .20). A stronger relation was found when the same coder evaluated attachment than when the coder was different and when the measure of attachment was continuous; other moderators were not significant. Securely attached children were higher in EC than their avoidant (r = .10) or resistant (r = .17) counterparts. Children with organized attachments were higher in EC than those with disorganized attachments (r = .17), although this finding could be due to publication bias. For some comparisons of subgroups (B vs. A, B vs. C, and/or D vs. all others), moderation was found by source of information (higher ES for same reporter), age at assessment of EC and/or attachment (higher ES at older ages), method of attachment (lower ES for observational measures), time difference between assessments or research design (higher ESs for smaller time differences and concurrent findings), and published versus unpublished studies (higher ES for unpublished studies for A vs. B). (PsycINFO Database Record

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This study examines the relationship between attachment to parents and peers,\ud time perspective and psychological adjustment in adolescence. 2,665 adolescents (M\ud age = 17.03 years, SD = 1.48) completed self-report measures about parent and peer\ud attachment, time perspective, sympathy and self-determination. Subjects were divided into\ud four groups based on their parent and peer attachment scores: high parent and high peer\ud attachment, low peer and low parent, high parent and low peer, low parent and high peer.\ud Higher levels of negative past of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory were revealed,\ud by post hoc analyses, in the group with low attachment to parent and peer. Unlike adolescents\ud with low attachment to parents, adolescents who reported a secure attachment to\ud parents had higher scores on positive past, hedonistic present, and future. Adolescents with\ud high attachment to parent and peer and adolescents with high parent but low peer\ud attachment had the highest scores on competence and authonomy