The Relation between Adolescent Depressive Symptoms and Adolescents’ Perceived Attachment to Father and Mother over a Two-Year Period.

Abstract

Studies on the relation between depressive symptoms on adolescent-mother and adolescent-father attachment were lacking. The current study therefore examined the predictive value of adolescent depressive symptoms on perceived adolescent-mother and adolescent-father attachment two years later, as well as the moderating role of sex in this relation. 1110 young adolescents (52,7% boys, Mage = 12.44, SDage = 0.61) were asked to report on their depressive symptoms and perceived attachment quality to both mother and father on two waves with a two-year interval. This data was analysed using linear regression analyses, hierarchical multiple regression analyses and by using the PROCESS tool (Hayes, 2012). Results showed that depressive symptoms at wave one significantly predicted perceived attachment two years later. The more depressive symptoms an adolescent reported, the lower the perceived attachment security to their father and their mother was. The strength of this relation was found to be similar for father and mother. Adolescents’ sex was found to be a moderator of this relation; for girls depressive symptoms had a stronger relation with perceived attachment to either parent than for boys. Depressive symptoms however no longer predicted perceived adolescent-mother and adolescent-father attachment when controlling for adolescent perceived attachment at wave one. In conclusion, depressive symptoms are no significant predictor of adolescent-father and adolescent-mother attachment after two years but earlier adolescent-father and adolescent-mother attachment are.