Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-2n9c9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-13T21:53:01.450Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Attachment and depressive symptoms during adolescence: A developmental pathways analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2009

R. Rogers Kobak,
Nanette Sudler and
Wendy Gamble
R. Rogers Kobak*
Affiliation:
University of Delaware
Nanette Sudler
Affiliation:
University of Arizona
Wendy Gamble
Affiliation:
University of Arizona
*
Address reprint requests to: Roger Kobak, Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716.
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article uses a developmental pathway model to consider the role of attachment processes in adolescents' reports of depressive symptoms. Teen attachments were assessed with both interview and observational methods. Assessments of teens' strategies in the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) indicated that insecure and preoccupied strategies were associated with increased reports of depressive symptoms. Observations of mother-teen problem-solving revealed that depressed teens engaged in interactions characterized by high levels of maternal dominance and dysfunctional anger. Maternal reports of teens' negative life events contributed additional variance to a regression model for depressive symptoms. Gender differences further specified pathways to depressive symptoms. Females reported more depressive symptoms, while depressed males engaged in problem-solving interactions characterized by high levels of dysfunctional anger. Competency-based treatments of depressive symptoms designed to improve parent-teen communication and meta-monitoring skills are discussed.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 3 , Issue 4 , October 1991, pp. 461 - 474
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1990). Some considerations regarding theory and assessment relevant to attachments beyond infancy. In Greenberg, M., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, M. (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years (pp. 463–488). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1: Attachment. New York: Basic.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss Vol. 2: Separation. New York: Basic.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development. New York: Basic.Google Scholar
Cassidy, J., & Kobak, R. (1988). Avoidance and its relation to other defensive processes. In Belsky, J. & Neworski, T. (Eds.), Clinical implications of attachment (pp. 300–323). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., Cummings, M., Greenberg, M. T., & Marvin, R. S. (1990). An organizational perspective on attachment beyond infancy: Implications for theory, measurement and research. In Greenberg, M., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, M. (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years (pp. 3–49). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, J., & Cohen, C. P. (1983). Applied multiple regression/correlational analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Cole, H., & Kobak, R. (1991). Attachment strategies and symptom reporting among college females: A control theory analysis. Department of Psychology, University of Delaware.Google Scholar
Crowell, J., & Feldman, S. (1988). Mothers' internal models of relationships and children's behavioral and developmental status: A study of mother-child interaction. Child Development, 59, 1273–1285.Google Scholar
Cummings, E. M., & Cicchetti, D. (1990). Toward a transactional model of relations between attachment and depression. In Greenberg, M., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, M. (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years (pp. 339–372). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Dozier, M. (1990). Attachment organization and treatment use for adults with serious psychopathological disorders. Development and Psychopathology, 2, 47–60.Google Scholar
Dozier, M., & Kobak, R. (1991). Psychophysiology in adolescent attachment interviews: Converging evidence for repressing strategies. Department of Psychology, Trinity University.Google Scholar
Egeland, B., & Sroufe, A. (1981). Developmental sequelae of maltreatment in infancy. New Directions for Child Development, 11, 77–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
George, C., Kaplan, N., & Main, M. (1985). The attachment interview for adults. Unpublished manuscript, University of California at Berkeley.Google Scholar
Gjerde, P., & Block, J. (1988). Depressive symptoms and personality during late adolescence: Gender differences in the externalization-internalization of symptom expression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 97, 475–486.Google Scholar
Green-Eichberg, C. (1987). Quality of infant-parent attachment: Related to mother's representation of her own relationship history. Presented at the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, MD.Google Scholar
Greenberg, M., & Speltz, M. (1988). Attachment and the ontogeny of conduct problems. In Belsky, J. & Neworski, T. (Eds.), Clinical implications of attachment (pp. 177–218). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Harter, S., Marold, D., & Nowakowski, M. (1987). Manual for the Dimensions of Depression Profile for Children and Adolescents. Department of Psychology, University of Denver.Google Scholar
Hill, J. P., & Holmbeck, G. N. (1986). Attachment and autonomy during adolescence. Annals of Child Development, 3, 145–189.Google Scholar
Kandel, D. B., & Davies, M. (1982). Epidemiology of depressive moods in adolescents. Archives of General Psychiatry, 39, 1205–1211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kobak, R. (1991, 10). Updating working models of self and parents: Implications for adolescent adaptation and psychopathology. Paper presented at the Rochester Symposium on Developmental Psychopathology, “The Self and Its Disorders,” Rochester, NY.Google Scholar
Kobak, R. (in press). Attachment and the problem of coherence: Implications for the treatment of disturbed adolescents. Adolescent Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Kobak, R., Cole, H., Ferenz-Gillies, R., Fleming, W., & Gamble, W. (1991). A dimensional analysis of adolescent attachment strategies. Department of Psychology, University of Delaware.Google Scholar
Kobak, R., Cole, H., Fleming, W., Ferenz-Gillies, R., & Gamble, W. (in press). Attachment and emotion regulation during mother-teen problem-solving: A control theory analysis. Child Development.Google Scholar
Kobak, R., & Sceery, A. (1988). Attachment in late adolescence: Working models, affect regulation, and representations of self and others. Child Development, 59, 135–146.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Main, M. (in press). Metacognitive knowledge, meta-cognitive monitoring, and singular (coherent) vs. multiple (incoherent) models of attachment. In Marris, P., Stevenson-Hinde, J., & Parkes, C. (Eds.), Attachment across the life cycle. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Main, M., & Goldwyn, R. (1985). Adult attachment rating and classification system. Department of Psychology, University of California at Berkeley.Google Scholar
Main, M., Kaplan, N., & Cassidy, J. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood and adulthood: A move to the level of representation. In Bretherton, I. & Waters, E. (Eds.), Growing points of attachment theory and research. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marvin, R. S. (1977). An ethological-cognitive model for the attenuation of mother-child attachment behavior. In Alloway, T. M., Krames, L., & Pliner, P. (Eds.), Advances in the study of communication and affect: Vol. 3. The development of social attachments (pp. 25–60). New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Markman, H., & Notarius, C. (1987). Coding marital and family interaction: Current status. In Jacob, T. (Ed.), Family interaction and psychopathology: Theories, methods and findings. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Masten, A. S., Garmezy, N., Tellegen, A., Pelligrini, D. S., Larkin, K., & Larsen, A. (1988). Competence and stress in school children: The moderating effects of individual and family qualities. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 29, 745–764.Google Scholar
Renouf, A. G., & Harter, S. (1990). Low self-worth and anger as components of the depressive experience in young adolescents. Development and Psychopathology, 2, 293–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, M. (1986). The developmental psychopathology of depression: Issues and perspectives. In Rutter, M., Izard, C. E., & Read, P. B. (Eds.), Depression in young people (pp. 3–32). New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Spieker, S. J., & Booth, C. (1988). Family risk typologies and patterns of insecure attachment. In Belsky, J. & Neworski, T. (Eds.), Clinical implications of attachment (pp. 95–135). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Sroufe, A. (1988). The role of infant caregiver attachment in development. In Belsky, J. & Neworski, T. (Eds.), Clinical implications of attachment (pp. 18–40). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A., & Rutter, M. (1984). The domain of developmental psychopathology. Child Development, 55, 17–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tellegen, A. (1985). Structures of mood and personality and their relevance to assessing anxiety, with an emphasis on self-report. In Tuma, A. H. & Maser, J. D. (Eds.), Anxiety and anxiety disorders (pp. 681–706). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Zahn-Waxler, C., Cole, P. M., & Barrett, K. C. (1991). Guilt and empathy: Sex differences and implications for the development of depression. In Garber, J. & Dodge, K. A. (Eds.), The development of emotion regulation and dysregulation (pp. 243–272). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar