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Parent-adolescent attachment and association with adolescent identity development
Abstract
The relationship between attachment and identity was examined in a sample of 283 college students. The primary hypothesis was that the strength of the attachment bond is significantly positively correlated with the identity achieved style. Secondary questions addressed gender differences in attachment and identity as well as the role of reported memory of childhood attachment to current attachment and to identity development. Social and cultural factors including the role of adolescents' second generation status and of trauma in the attachment-identity association were also explored. Subjects were given questionnaires assessing current attachment and reported memory of childhood attachment to mother and father, identity styles, and difficult life events. Although no support was obtained for the hypothesized relationship between attachment and the identity achieved style, other patterns of attachment and identity were found. Results on gender differences seemed to show support for stereotypical notions in attachment but not identity. Gender differences between males and females in the attachment-identity association often indicated more significant results for males. Attachment to mothers vs. attachment to fathers showed somewhat different patterns in predicting identity styles. Results indicated that adolescents who had second-generation status may show a slightly different pattern of identity development that may involve struggling for integrating personal as well as familial and cultural influences. Trauma may disrupt the adolescents' ideological development. Individuals who have experienced traumatic events are more likely to question basic assumptions about life. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between genders, interpersonal vs. ideological identity and child vs. current attachment when conducting analyses on the association between attachment and identity. Future investigations should consider using more categorical measures of assessing attachment and identity styles, conducting studies of identity development with a multi-cultural sample, and incorporating measures of traumatic life events that may mediate the attachment-identity link.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy|Developmental psychology|Families & family life|Personal relationships|Sociology
Recommended Citation
Pao, Jean Yun, "Parent-adolescent attachment and association with adolescent identity development" (1996). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9813651.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9813651