Adolescent Psychological Health and School Attitudes: The Impact of Attachment Relationships

Abstract

The simultaneous and differential effects of parental, peer, and intimate friendship attachment on attitudes to school and psychological health were examined in a sample of 520 adolescents aged from 13 to 19 years. Based on recent extensions to attachment theory it was predicted that parental, peer and intimate friend attachment would impact on psychological health variables, while peer attachment and intimate friendship attachment along with depression and self-esteem would influence attitudes towards school. The hypothesised pattern of relationships was evaluated using structural equation modelling techniques. Overall, there was only partial support for the hypotheses. Results showed that parental attachment and peer attachment were related to psychological health but intimate friendship attachment was not. Intimate friendship was the only attachment variable that directly influenced school attitudes. The three attachment variables were only weakly inter-correlated. Implications with regard to extensions of attachment theory are discussed