Insecure Attachment to Parents and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescence: Mediating Roles of Attributions and Self-esteem

Abstract

This study examined the association of attachment style with mother and father with depressive symptomsamong early adolescent boys and girls (N= 140), and whether this association was mediated by attributionalstyles and/or self-esteem. As expected, adolescents more anxiously attached to both mother and father reportedthe most depressive symptoms. Anxious attachment to mother was associated with depressive symptoms for girlsonly and this association was fully mediated by both maladaptive attributions for negative events and byself-esteem. These findings indicate the importance of negative attributions and self-esteem as pathways throughwhich girls’ anxious attachment to mother might lead to depressive symptoms.