Attachment in Adolescence: A Move to the Level of Emotion Regulation

Overview

Journal J Soc Pers Relat

Publisher Sage Publications

Date 2010 May 1

PMID 20431705

Citations 37

Authors

Joseph P Allen

Erin M Miga

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The early adolescent's state of mind in the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) is more closely linked to social interactions with peers, who are unlikely to serve as attachment figures, than it is to (i) qualities of the adolescent's interactions with parents, (ii) the AAI of the adolescent's mother, or (iii) the adolescent's prior Strange Situation behavior. This unexpected finding suggests the value of reconceptualizing AAI autonomy/security as a marker of the adolescent's capacity for emotion regulation in social interactions. Supporting this, we note that the AAI was originally validated not as a marker of attachment experiences or expectations with one's caregivers, but as a predictor of caregiving capacity sufficient to produce secure offspring. As such, the AAI may be fruitfully viewed as primarily assessing social emotion regulation capacities that support both strong caregiving skills and strong skills relating with peers.

Citing Articles

Turning to friends in preference to parents for support in early adolescence: does this contribute to the gender difference in depressive symptoms?.

Wright N, Sharp H, Gay J, Pickles A, Hill J Front Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2025; 2:1150493.

PMID: 39839584 PMC: 11748791. DOI: 10.3389/frcha.2023.1150493.

Attachment and self-regulation in the workplace-a theoretical integration.

Ren Q, Topakas A, Patterson M Front Psychol. 2024; 15:1387548.

PMID: 39640043 PMC: 11619274. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1387548.

Development of Comorbid Alcohol Use and Depressive Symptoms During Late Adolescence: Examining the Roles of Emotion Regulation and Gender Differences.

Risbud R, Guyer A, Robins R, Hastings P Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol. 2024; 52(12):1931-1943.

PMID: 39340743 DOI: 10.1007/s10802-024-01251-4.

Does attachment in adolescence predict neural responses to handholding in adulthood? A functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Lin J, Stern J, Allen J, Coan J J Soc Pers Relat. 2024; 41(8):2276-2296.

PMID: 39166123 PMC: 11335342. DOI: 10.1177/02654075241239604.

Fathers' contributions to attachment in adolescence and adulthood: the moderating role of race, gender, income, and residential status.

Stern J, Bailey N, Costello M, Hazelwood O, Allen J Attach Hum Dev. 2024; 26(4):325-349.

PMID: 38869354 PMC: 11269005. DOI: 10.1080/14616734.2024.2366391.

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