Citation

Cobb KF. Adolesc. Res. Rev. 2021; 6(2): 151-164.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s40894-020-00140-3

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

John Bowlby's theory of attachment has inspired numerous studies which have concluded that insecure attachment can contribute to the development of depressive symptoms in adolescents. It has also spurred research confirming that other environmental factors, such as parental depressive symptoms, can contribute to the development of insecure attachment in adolescents. However, few studies have investigated how insecure adolescent attachment works as a mechanism in the relationship between adolescent and parental depressive symptoms. Accordingly, this systematic review was conducted to better ascertain how attachment is related to the development of adolescent depressive symptoms in the context of parental depressive symptoms. Inclusion criteria for this review were met if the child study population had a mean age in our identified "adolescent" range (age 10-19), if depressive symptoms were measured in at least one parent and their adolescent child, and if adolescent attachment was related to (i.e., mediated or moderated) the intergenerational relationship between depressive symptoms. A total of nine studies were identified searching among three databases (APA PsychNET, Academic Search Elite and PubMed) and one search engine (Google Scholar) through March 2020. The overall sample of this review included mothers (N = 1,684), fathers (N = 123), and adolescents (N = 1805). Samples for the original studies were recruited from both clinical and community populations, with clinical samples being determined by both parental and adolescent levels of depressive symptoms in different studies. Attachment was measured as both an internal working model of self or "state of mind" and as a behavior in which a stressed child seeks comfort or support from an attachment figure acting as a "secure base." Measurements of attachment were taken at varying stages in child development ranging from infancy through adolescence. Additionally, most reviewed studies did not include fathers or much racial or social class diversity. Overall, the review determined that both conceptualizations of attachment (internal working model and support-seeking behavior) successfully mediated or moderated the relationship between maternal and adolescent depressive symptoms.

Language: en

Keywords

Adolescent; Attachment; Depression; Depressive symptoms; Intergenerational