ARTICLE
Security of attachment and adolescents' depression
More details
Hide details
1
Szkoła Wyższa Psychologii Społecznej
Submission date: 2017-02-22
Final revision date: 2017-04-01
Acceptance date: 2017-05-08
Publication date: 2017-08-31
Corresponding author
Anna Wendołowska
Szkoła Wyższa Psychologii Społecznej, Zgodna 80, Libertów, 30-444 Kraków, Polska
Psychoter 2017;181(2):87-102
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Objectives:
The purpose of the study was to investigate the role of internal working models in the prediction of depression. Insecure attachment has been theorized to form a vulnerability factor for the emergence of depressive symptoms.
Methods:
This study examined the association of attachment style with depressive symptoms among early adolescents 12–15 years of age (N= 84). For the assessment of attachment style and depressive symptoms, the Adult Attachment Interview (George, Kaplan, Main), and the Child Depression Inventory (Kovacs) were used.
Results:
As expected, insecurely attached adolescents more often reported the depressive symptoms (52,3%). 58,8% of the securely attached did not manifest any symptoms of depression. In the group of the continuous secure adolescents, there were 71,4% of non-depressive ones. 50% individuals in the earned secure category did not report any depressive symptoms, and the other 50% expressed light depressive symptoms. There were no cases of severe depression among representants of both: continuous secure and earned secure styles.
Conclusions:
Bowlby’s attachment theory provides in-depth understanding into the development of working models of the self and the others. Secure attachment is significantly correlated with high self-esteem, effective affect regulation and better adolescence adjustment. The continuous secure category seems to function as a more effective protector against depression comparing to the earned secure one. However no cases of severe depression among earned secure individuals confirm weightiness of the quality of attachment in a healthy development.