Insecure Attachment to Parents and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescence: Mediating Roles of Attributions and Self-esteem

This study examined the association of attachment style with mother and father with depressive symptoms among early adolescent boys and girls (N= 140), and whether this association was mediated by attributional styles and/or self-esteem. As expected, adolescents more anxiously attached to both mother and father reported the most depressive symptoms. Anxious attachment to mother was associated with depressive symptoms for girls only and this association was fully mediated by both maladaptive attributions for negative events and by self-esteem. These findings indicate the importance of negative attributions and self-esteem as pathways through which girls’ anxious attachment to mother might lead to depressive symptoms.