Attachment and the Development of Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence: The Role of Regulating Positive and Negative Affect

Abstract

Although widely accepted, attachment theory’s hypothesis that insecure attachment is associated with the development of depressive symptoms through emotion regulation strategies has never been longitudinally tested in adolescence. Additionally, previous research only focused on strategies for regulating negative affect, whereas strategies for regulating positive affect may also serve as a mechanism linking insecure attachment to depressive symptoms. This study aimed to fill these research gaps by testing whether the association between attachment and change in depressive symptoms over time is explained by strategies for regulating negative and positive affect in adolescence. Adolescents (N = 1706; 53% girls; Mage = 12.78 years, SDage = 1.54 at Time 1) were tested three times, with a 1-year interval between measurement times. They reported on their attachment anxiety and avoidance at Time 1, depressive symptoms at Times 1 and 3, and regulation of negative affect (brooding and dampening) and positive affect (focusing and reflection) at Time 2. The results from multiple mediation analyses showed that more anxiously attached adolescents developed more depressive symptoms via increased brooding and dampening. More avoidantly attached adolescents developed more depressive symptoms via decreased focusing. These findings provide longitudinal support for attachment theory’s emotion regulation hypothesis, and show that the regulation of both negative and positive affect is important.

State Attachment Variability: Between- and within-Person Level Associations with Trait Attachment and Psychological Problems

“…Trait attachment is generally considered a relevant factor for child psychological problems [1]. Specifically, children who are less securely attached at a trait level are more vulnerable to develop psychological problems when experiencing stress, underlain by several mechanisms [12], among which are decreased support-seeking [13] and the use of less adaptive emotion regulation strategies [14]. Interestingly, attachment theory does suggest that there is room for change and trait attachment can be updated in response to changes in the interpersonal environment ('lawful change') [15,16].…”

Effects of Father and Mother Attachment on Depressive Symptoms in Middle Childhood and Adolescence: The Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation

“…Insecure attachment is associated with psychological problems, in particular with internalizing symptoms (e.g., depressive symptoms) in children and adolescents [ 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ]. A recent meta-analysis revealed an overall moderate effect size (r = 0.31) for the association between attachment and depression [ 40 ].…”

“…Longitudinal data on the association between attachment and depressive symptoms through emotion regulation are rare. Verhees et al [ 38 ] showed that an insecure attachment style was associated with the development of more depressive symptoms, mediated by brooding on negative emotions and a dampening of positive affect in case of anxious attachment style, whereas a reduced focus on positive affect mediated the link between avoidant attachment style and depressive symptoms. Therefore, it is important to investigate emotion regulation, especially sadness regulation, as a possible mediator of the relationship between attachment and depressive symptoms.…”

From Early Micro-Temporal Interaction Patterns to Child Cortisol Levels: Toward the Role of Interactive Reparation and Infant Attachment in a Longitudinal Study

“…Furthermore, Kerns and Brumariu (2014) discussed insecure and disorganized attachment as risk factors for the development of affective disorders and that this association might trace back, in part, to less competent emotion regulation capacities in insecurely attached children. A hypotheses that was recently supported by Verhees et al (2021) , who found a mediation pathway between attachment insecurity, the regulation of positive, as well as negative affect and the development of depressive symptoms in a large longitudinal sample of adolescents.…”

“…Thus, our findings highlight the importance of specific micro-interactional patterns of mother–child interaction for infants’ regulation ( Müller et al, 2015 ) and the development of a secure attachment quality. Consequently, the interactive dysregulation could be partly responsible for the increased risk of developing mental disorders later in life (compare Verhees et al, 2021 ). Nevertheless, child emotion regulation and their later psychopathological development was not assessed in the current study.…”