Attachment in adolescence

Last time, we looked at attachment in children. Today we turn to adolescents. First, Xia, Coffey & Fosco (2024) published “Daily Dynamics of Feeling Loved by Parents and Their Prospective Implications for Adolescent Flourishing” in Developmental Science. Here’s the edited abstract:

Feeling loved by one's caregiver is essential for individual flourishing (i.e., high levels of psychological well-being in multiple dimensions). Although similar constructs are found to benefit adolescent well-being, research that directly tests parental love as a feeling from the recipient's perspective is rare. Historically, parental love has been measured using single-assessment methods and assumed to be a stable, trait-like characteristic; yet, like any feeling, it may fluctuate in meaningful ways on a day-to-day basis—the implications of which are unknown. Using a sample of 150 adolescents (59.3% female; ages 14–16), this study estimated level (person's mean level across days) and instability (fluctuations across days) of feeling loved by a caregiver across 21 days for each adolescent, and then examined their prospective effects on adolescent flourishing 1 year later. After controlling for demographics (adolescent age, gender, family income, and parent's sex) and variable baseline levels, feeling more loved by one's caregiver in daily life significantly predicted higher levels of flourishing in two global measures 1 year later. Moreover, level and instability of feeling loved by one's caregiver played different roles for different dimensions of flourishing: higher levels significantly predicted higher levels of autonomy, purpose in life, and personal growth, whereas higher instability significantly predicted lower levels of positive relations with others and environmental mastery. Findings emphasized the importance of considering daily dynamics of feeling loved by one's caregiver and demonstrated that level (of feeling loved) is particularly important for intrapersonal aspects while instability is particularly important for interpersonal aspects of flourishing.

Last time, we saw that self-disclosure enhanced feeling loved in children. Here we see that higher levels of feeling loves predict autonomy, purpose in life, and personal growth, while higher instability of feeling loved predicts less positive relations and environmental mastery. The next study also looks at feeling loved. Ha, Lida, Quiroz, Maras & Savord (2024) published “Feeling Loved in Mixed-Gender Adolescent Romantic Relationships in the Face of Daily Stress and Support: A dyadic diary study” in Developmental Science. The edited abstract follows:

A profound developmental experience is the emergence of adolescent romantic relationships and first feelings of love. However, the daily nature of feeling loved in adolescents’ everyday lives is poorly understood. We investigated how daily stress severity was associated with adolescents’ levels of feeling loved and whether romantic partner support moderated these associations. Furthermore, we investigated this for non-interpersonal and interpersonal stressors. N = 97 mixed-gender adolescent romantic couples (age M = 16.38, SD = 1.02) from an ethnically diverse sample (42.2% Hispanic/Latino/a/x, 44.7% White) participated in dyadic diary assessments twice a week for 12 consecutive weeks. Both partners independently completed open-ended questions about a daily stressor, indicating stress severity, perceived partner support, and feeling loved. Daily stressors were coded for non-interpersonal and various types of interpersonal stressors. Results from the dyadic multilevel model showed that days with lower than average support from a romantic partner amplify the adverse effects of stress severity on feeling loved, especially when the partner is involved in the stressor. We discuss the spillover of stress in romantic relationships and the stress-buffering functions of adolescent romantic partner support. Adolescent romantic partners are potentially essential regulators of stress, increasing adolescents’ feelings of love.

While not surprising, this research extends the previous ones on feeling loved by parents to romantic partners, especially stress-buffering effects. The final study turns to substance use. Clinchard, Deater-Deckard, Casas & Kim-Spoon (2024) published “Longitudinal Links from Attachment with Mothers and Fathers to Adolescent Substance Use: Internalizing and externalizing pathways” in Developmental Science. Here are excerpts:

The present study examined whether internalizing and externalizing symptoms may mediate the association between adolescent–mother and adolescent–father attachment and substance use. The sample included 167 adolescents (47% girls) who were assessed at five time points with approximately 1 year between each assessment, beginning in middle adolescence (Mage = 14.07) and ending in the transition to young adulthood (Mage = 18.39). The adolescents reported their perceived attachment with both their mother and father during middle adolescence (Times 1 and 2), their internalizing and externalizing symptoms during late adolescence (Times 3 and 4), and their alcohol use during the transition to young adulthood (Time 5). The results showed that less secure adolescent–father attachment, but not adolescent–mother attachment, was predictive of heightened externalizing and internalizing symptoms. In turn, heightened externalizing symptoms were predictive of heightened alcohol use. Despite the nonsignificant direct association between adolescent–father attachment and alcohol use, less secure adolescent–father attachment was indirectly predictive of greater alcohol use, mediated through heightened externalizing symptoms. The findings highlight the importance of close and trusting father–adolescent relationships in the development of psychopathology and substance use behaviors. The developmental cascade from a less secure adolescent–father attachment to greater externalizing symptoms and heightened substance use, as well as implications for prevention and intervention of young adult substance use, are discussed.

Our finding indicates that the individual differences in adolescent–father attachment were greater than those of the adolescent–mother attachment. That is, the effects of adolescent–father attachment may be more prominent on their adolescents’ outcomes in part because the level of secure attachment varied more drastically with fathers than mothers. It follows that adolescent–mother attachment security was not a significant predictor due to not having as wide of a range in individual differences concerning the amounts of secure quality. In samples with a wider range of levels of security of adolescent–mother attachment, such as samples involving young people who experienced maltreatment by mothers or maternal psychopathology, adolescent-mother attachment may be a significant predictor.  

Notably, internalizing symptoms were not prospectively associated with later alcohol use. This finding contradicts the self-medication hypothesis, which posits that those with internalizing symptoms are more likely to use substances to decrease their symptoms (Bolton et al., 2009). One primary reason for this nonsignificant link between internalizing symptoms in late adolescence and alcohol use during the transition to young adulthood may be due to the social contexts in which young adults consume alcohol. During this developmental period, drinking is often socially motivated and amplified by affiliation with substance-using peers. It follows that young adults with greater levels of internalizing symptoms are less likely to be exposed to contexts in which they can partake in substance use. That is, young adults experiencing depression or anxiety may prefer to stay home and not go to a party, therefore not having that opportunity to drink alcohol. 

The transition to young adulthood is an important time to examine the development of substance use behaviors. There are many life changes occurring during this time, including spending less time with parents and leaving home to work or attend college. Although the significant role of attachment in the development of psychopathology has been shown, the differential pathways from adolescent–mother and adolescent–father attachment to substance use during the transition to young adulthood are not well known. Our findings highlight the significance of the adolescent–father relationship in a developmental cascading pathway, wherein adolescent–father attachment during middle adolescence plays a critical role in the development of externalizing symptoms in late adolescence, and, in turn, predicts subsequent alcohol use during the transition to young adulthood. The findings from the current study support the theoretical perspective that emphasizes the importance of social relationship factors in substance use disorders (Volkow et al., 2011), by illustrating that insecure adolescent–father attachment sets the stage for the developmental cascade into more externalizing symptoms and more alcohol use. The findings have implications for the prevention of problematic substance use, providing evidence that addressing insecure attachment with fathers during adolescence may reduce unhealthy substance use later (Fletcher et al., 2015).  Further, the association between late adolescent externalizing symptoms and later alcohol use suggests that behavioral disinhibition during adolescence, likely prevalent among those with poor attachment qualities with their father, may be a target for the prevention of alcohol use during the transition to young adulthood.

I like this study for several reasons. The data regarding father attachment is persuasive and I appreciate their mentioning that there was simply much less variability in mother attachment security (Karen’s hunch is that moms more likely agreed to the study in the first place and those with poor relationships to their kids didn’t volunteer). I also like their argument about internalizing. Taken together, these studies extend findings that illustrate the powerful effects of attachment on adolescent behavior.