Attachment and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence: The Mediatory Role of Emotion Awareness

Abstract

Attachment seems to influence depression through emotion regulation. However, no study has yet examined the mediatory role of emotion awareness, a particular subset of emotion regulation abilities, in the relationship between attachment and depressive problems in early and middle adolescence. The aim of this study is to examine the direct and indirect effects of attachment on depressive symptoms in adolescence, considering the mediatory role of emotion awareness dimensions. A sample of adolescents (n = 223) filled up self-report questionnaires on attachment, emotion awareness and depression. Serial mediation models suggest direct effects on depression: negative for secure attachment and positive for anxious/ambivalent attachment. Anxious/ambivalent attachment has a positive indirect effect through lower differentiation of emotions. Both secure and anxious/ambivalent attachment have indirect positive effects on depression through the sequence of bodily unawareness and differentiation of emotions. Differentiating emotions has a central role in mediating the relationship between attachment and depressive symptoms, and the lack of bodily awareness of emotions contributes to such mediation.

Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias Relacionadas Con Las Emociones en Las Ciencias Agrícolas Y Biológicas

“…Las emociones ligadas a enfermedades y condiciones médicas también han sido altamente estudiadas, e. g.: depresión (Carapeto et al, 2022), felicidad (Cabello y Fernandez-Berrocal, 2015), trastorno límite de la personalidad (Bruehl et al, 2013), estrés (Tuluhong y Han, 2023), esquizofrenia (Eack et al, 2016), y obesidad, por mencionar algunos. La relevancia de estos temas es debido a que muchas iniciativas de organización productiva fallan por falta de una comprensión de la naturaleza humana, es por ello que entender los factores de estrés o de felicidad permiten a las personas que trabajan con actores locales generar soluciones basadas en personas y no sólo orientadas a la tecnología.…”

Socio-Emotional Problems and Personal Resources in Spanish Adolescents after COVID-19. Gender Difference.

“…On the one hand, women would have higher scores in internalising symptomatology than men [14,22,23]. In contrast, some studies do not find any gender differences in anxiety and depression in adolescence [24,25] and others do not find these differences in early adolescence [9]. On the other hand, men tend to present higher levels of aggressiveness as a manifestation of emotional imbalances [24,25] while women tend to manifest contained rage or anger, without reaching behavioural manifestations [28].…”

“…On the other hand, personal resources, such as self-esteem, social competence and integration, and awareness of problems can act as a protector against these emotional difficulties. Some research indicates that there may be differences in the expression of these emotional difficulties according to gender [31,34,35,38] or not [22,24,25,36] Therefore, the objective of the research is to analyse the socio-emotional difficulties (internalising and externalising) as well as the relationship with personal resources (self-esteem, social competence and integration, and awareness of problems) according to gender in adolescence after the situation created by COVID-19. Firstly, girls are expected to have a higher incidence of internalising and less externalising symptomatology compared to boys, and secondly, socioemotional difficulties and personal resources are expected to be related in both adolescent boys and girls.…”