Children’s Attention to Mother and Adolescent Stress Moderate the Attachment-Depressive Symptoms Link

Abstract

The development of depressive symptoms is rooted in childhood, but once it emerges in adolescence and translates to depressive disorders, the psychosocial and economic impact is substantial both for affected individuals as for the society (World Health Organization, 2001). Hence, longitudinal research on childhood precursors of the development of depressive symptoms is critical to understand which interventions could help promote mental health. One childhood factor often proposed to be related to the development

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

“…A recent meta-analysis revealed an overall moderate effect size (r = 0.31) for the association between attachment and depression [ 40 ]. Longitudinal studies that examine whether attachment insecurity precedes later symptoms and not only correlates with current depression showed that the development of depressive symptoms in later adolescence is predicted by insecure attachment during early adolescence [ 41 ], and that an insecure attachment representation predicts higher rates and stable patterns of depressive symptoms across adolescence [ 5 ]. Thus, there is a robust, although moderate association between attachment and depression in childhood and adolescence.…”

An empirical test of prototype and revisionist models of attachment stability and change from middle childhood to adolescence: A 6‐year longitudinal study

“…During this period, as children's autonomy and peer influence increases, the parent‐child attachment relationship transitions from a goal‐corrected partnership to a supervisory partnership in which the child becomes increasingly responsible for monitoring and maintaining connection with their secure base (Kerns et al, 2001; Waters et al, 1991). This change in the nature of the attachment relationship presents potential challenges that may disrupt attachment stability or mark a period of increased revision of attachment expectations (Bosmans, 2016; Bosmans, Van de Walle, et al, 2020). Further, significant changes in cognitive capacity and biological maturation during middle childhood and early adolescence which impact children's psychological needs/stress and coping abilities may further disrupt stability across the transition from childhood to adolescence (Bosmans & Kerns, 2015; Del Giudice, 2015; Zimmerman & Iwanski, 2015).…”

“…Building on the work of Fraley and colleagues regarding the prototype model of attachment security, the present study addresses several outstanding issues by examining attachment stability data from a five‐wave, 6‐year, longitudinal study of childhood attachment representations beginning in middle childhood and continuing across the transition into adolescence (e.g., Bosmans, Van de Walle, et al, 2020; Waters et al, 2019). Prior reports on attachment stability in this cohort focused on the first four waves of data collection and only on secure base script knowledge.…”

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

“…Meta-analyses have shown that insecure attachment is associated with depressive symptoms in adults and in children and adolescents (Dagan et al, 2018;Spruit et al, 2020). Moreover, longitudinal research showed that insecure attachment during early adolescence predicts the development of depressive symptoms later in adolescence (Bosmans, Van de Walle et al, 2020). However, less is known about the mechanisms that explain this longitudinal association.…”