Adolescent Attachment,Identity, and Adjustment to College: Implications for the Continuity of Adaptation Hypothesis

We examined the concurrent relationship between late adolescent attachment to parents and peers and two broad indices of adolescent adaptation—personal and social identity and adjustment to college. Participants included 130 college freshmen and 123 upperclassmen. Although freshmen were disadvantaged relative to upperclassmen with respect to social and personal-emotional adjustment, there were no group differences on the attachment measures, on the measures of academic adjustment and goal commitment, and on the measure of social identity. Freshmen scored higher on personal identity than did upperclassmen. Women reported less alienation from peers, had more trust and better communication with peers, and had higher scores on personal and social idenitity than men. The attachment variables were significant predictors of personal and social identity. Pervasive relations were also found between attachment and adjustment to college, particularly for the upperclassmen sample.     

Attachment Quality and Psychopathological Symptoms in Clinically Referred Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Early Maladaptive Schema

This study investigated relationships between attachment insecurity, maladaptive cognitive schemas, and various types of psychopathological symptoms in a sample of clinically referred adolescents (N = 82). A mediation model was tested in which maladaptive schemas operated as mediators in the relations between indices of attachment quality and conduct, peer, and emotional problems. Results revealed partial support for the hypothesized mediation effect: the schema domain of disconnection/rejection acted as a mediator in the links between insecure attachment and peer problems and emotional problems. Further analysis of these effects revealed that different types of maladaptive schemas were involved in both types of psychopathology. Altogether, findings suggest that treatment of adolescent psychological problems may need to target the improvement of attachment relationships with peers and parents and the correction of underlying cognitive schemas.     

Rumination and worrying as possible mediators in the relation between neuroticism and symptoms of depression and anxiety in clinically depressed individuals

Rumination and worrying are considered possible mediating variables that may explain the relation between neuroticism and symptoms of depression and anxiety. The current study sought to examine the mediational effects of rumination and worry in the relationships between neuroticism and symptoms of depression and anxiety in a sample of clinically depressed individuals (N = 198). All patients completed a battery of questionnaires including measures of neuroticism, rumination, worrying, depression, and anxiety. Results showed that in subsequent analyses, rumination and worrying both mediated the relation between neuroticism and depression and anxiety. When rumination and worrying were simultaneously entered in the mediation analysis, only rumination was found to mediate the relation between neuroticism and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Two components of rumination (i.e., brooding and reflection) were also analyzed in the mediational analysis. Both reflection and brooding were significant mediators with respect to depressive symptoms, whereas brooding was the only significant mediator in relation to anxiety symptoms. The results are discussed in the light of current theories, previous research, and recent treatment developments. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Authenticity in relationships and depressive symptoms: A gender analysis

The current study examined authenticity in relationships, defined as the ability to be open and honest in meaningful relationships, in multiple contexts (i.e., with parents, peers). The goal of the study was to examine and compare the relation between authenticity in relationships and depressive symptoms in a sample of 435 14-year-old adolescent girls and boys. Structural equation modeling results indicated that the model predicted approximately one-third of the variance in depressive symptoms for girls, and almost half of the variance in depressive symptoms for boys. In addition, the strength of the relation between authenticity with parents and depressive symptoms was statistically equivalent for boys and girls. These results indicate the importance of authenticity with parents in predicting depressive symptoms, for both boys and girls.     

Adolescents’ Attachment to Parents and Peers: Links to Young Adulthood Friendship Quality

Few studies have been carried out on emerging adults’ friendships and on their developmental roots. Research suggests that in adolescence, both attachment to parents and attachment to peers play a role in future socio-emotional development. The aim of the present study was to compare attachment in these two types of relationships in adolescence according to gender and test whether they respectively predicted the perception of best friendship in early adulthood. A sample of 83 participants (49 girls) was seen in early adolescence (M?=?13.66 years, SD?=?0.64) and 7 years later (mean age?=?21.15 years, SD?=?0.83). At T1, participants completed the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, which measures attachment using three subscales (communication, alienation and trust) and one global security score. At T2, they completed the McGill Friendship Questionnaire. Results show that in adolescence, boys report higher security with parents compared to peers (mainly due to better communication), unlike girls who obtain higher scores with peers. Longitudinal findings reveal that alienation in the relation with parents is what best predicts friendship quality in early adulthood. These findings underline the specific internal working models at play in socio-emotional development and the way gender differences evolve from adolescence to early adulthood.

     

The factor structure of the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA): A survey of Italian adolescents

Despite the intensive use of the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA), a measure of attachment which centres on individual differences in adolescents and their ability to evaluate their relationships with parents and peers, the factor structure of the inventory requires further investigation. This study of 1059 Italian adolescents compared the three models which are discussed in the literature: the one-factor model (attachment security), the two-factor model (trust-communication and alienation) and the three-factor model (trust, communication and alienation), and examined the influences of age and gender on the IPPA’s scores. Our findings provide support for the reliability of the latest and longer version of the IPPA (75-item). Factor analysis showed that the three-factor model had the best fit, although the three dimensions are strongly interrelated. Sixteen year olds had lower attachment security to their fathers than the results of the other adolescent age groups. Males reported lower alienation scores than females in the paternal form, while females had higher attachment security, trust and communication scores than males in the peers form.     

Complex mediating effects of rumination facets between personality traits and depressive symptoms

This study investigates whether facets of rumination statistically mediate the relationships between Big Five personality traits and depressive symptoms. Self-reported personality traits and rumination were investigated as predictors of depressive symptoms in a cross-sectional sample of 3043 participants aged 18–60 years (68.8% female). Multiple regression analysis investigated which personality traits and rumination facets best explained variance in depressive symptoms. Structural equation modelling was used to determine whether facets of rumination mediated the relationships between personality traits and depressive symptoms. Multiple regression analysis found that variance in depressive symptoms was best explained by the personality traits neuroticism, extroversion, conscientiousness; and both facets of rumination, brooding and reflection. Structural equation modelling added that the effects of neuroticism, extroversion, conscientiousness and openness on depressive symptoms were statistically mediated by brooding; the effects of neuroticism, extroversion and openness to depressive symptoms were statistically mediated by reflection. Rumination facets statistically mediated the effects of various personality traits on depressive symptoms. These results provide insights into which individuals may be best suited to treatments for depression targeting rumination.     

Experiential Avoidance and Rumination in Parents of Children on Cancer Treatment: Relationships with Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Symptoms of Depression

We conducted a cross-sectional survey study to investigate whether there is a relationship between experiential avoidance (EA), rumination, post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), and symptoms of depression, in parents of children on cancer treatment. Data from 79 parents (55 mothers) of 79 children with a median of three months since their cancer diagnosis were included in cross-sectional analyses. EA and rumination were positively correlated with PTSS and symptoms of depression. EA and rumination did not provide incremental explained variance in PTSS over and above that explained by symptoms of depression, while controlling for symptoms of anxiety and demographic characteristics. However, EA and rumination provided incremental explained variance in symptoms of depression over and above that explained by PTSS, while controlling for symptoms of anxiety and demographic characteristics. Rumination and EA are important constructs in the understanding of PTSS and symptoms of depression in parents of children on cancer treatment. Future research should delineate the temporal relationships between these constructs.     

Longitudinal Impact of Communication Patterns on Romantic Attachment and Symptoms of Depression

This study investigated how communication patterns, romantic attachment, symptoms of depression, and perceptions of relationship quality are related concurrently and prospectively within monogamous dating relationships. Participants completed two self-report assessments at six-month intervals. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that for males, mutual constructive communication was associated with decreases in depressive symptoms, whereas demand-withdraw communication was associated with increases in attachment avoidance and depressive symptoms from T1 to T2. The same variables were not associated with changes in attachment or depressive symptoms for females. Mixed model ANOVAs revealed insecure attachment, symptoms of depression, and negative perceptions of relationship quality were significantly higher for broken up individuals than for those whose relationships remained intact.     

Cognitive Vulnerability to Emotional Symptoms: Reconsidering the Role of Worry and Rumination

The present study explored the pathways whereby cognitive variables (worry, rumination) may explain the relation between neuroticism and emotional symptoms in a community sample of adults (N?=?499). All participants completed a battery of questionnaires including measures of neuroticism, worry, rumination, anxiety and depression. Multiple mediation and moderated mediation analyses were used. Worry was a common pathway explaining the effect of neuroticism on both anxiety and depressive symptoms. The brooding subtype of rumination significantly mediated the relation between neuroticism and anxiety symptoms, but the reflection subtype did not have a mediating effect. Although worry by itself mediated the association between neuroticism and anxiety symptoms, it required a certain level of brooding to exert its mediating effect on the relation between neuroticism and depressive symptoms. The results are discussed in light of previous research and recent developments in treatment. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.     

Perceived attachment: relations to anxiety sensitivity, worry, and GAD symptoms

This investigation examined the relation between perceived alienation from parents and peers, anxiety sensitivity (AS), and current worry and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms with the goal of expanding the knowledge base on factors that may contribute to the development of AS and its role in worry. The mediating role of AS between perceptions of alienation and current worry and GAD symptoms was also examined. Ninety-four non-clinical worriers completed self-report questionnaires assessing their perceptions of attachment, AS levels, and worry and GAD symptoms. Even after controlling for worry and GAD symptoms, greater perceptions of alienation from mothers and peers were significantly associated with higher AS symptoms. AS as a unitary construct mediated the relation between perceptions of alienation from mothers and peers and worry and GAD symptoms. The facets fear of publicly observable symptoms and fear of cognitive dyscontrol also mediated this relation. The role of alienation in relation to AS, worry, and GAD symptoms is discussed along with directions for future research.     

Reciprocal Relations of Worry,Rumination, and Psychopathology Symptoms After Loss: A Prospective Cohort Study

Bereavement can precipitate symptoms of depression, prolonged grief disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Targeting repetitive negative thought (i.e., worry, rumination) in treatment may help reduce post-loss psychopathology. Yet, evidence on longitudinal associations of depressive rumination and worry with post-loss psychopathology symptoms has been mixed and the directions of effects are still unclear. Recently bereaved adults (78% female) completed questionnaires assessing depressive rumination (brooding), worry, and depression, prolonged grief and posttraumatic stress symptoms 11 times in 1.5 month intervals. We applied random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RICLPMs) to examine reciprocal within-person associations between worry and psychopathology symptoms, between rumination and these symptoms, and between worry and rumination. Main findings were that worry showed reciprocal relationships with psychopathology symptoms (although worry did not consistently predict prolonged grief symptoms). Depressive rumination was predicted by psychopathology symptoms, but not vice versa. Worry showed reciprocal relations with depressive rumination. Findings suggest that worry may be part of a downward spiral, enhancing psychopathology symptoms following loss, whereas depressive rumination is solely a consequence of such symptoms.     

Examining the role of positive and negative metacognitive beliefs in depression

Many psychological models have been developed to explain the development and maintenance of depression. The most widely evaluated model is the cognitive model of depression, and it is against this model that emerging models should be compared. Accordingly, this cross‐sectional study examined whether metacognitive beliefs, as specified in the metacognitive model of depression, would explain additional variance in depressive symptoms over dysfunctional attitudes; the core feature of the cognitive model. Moreover, mediational relationships between metacognitive beliefs, rumination, and depressive symptoms, predicted by the metacognitive model were also explored, whilst controlling for dysfunctional attitudes. A sample of 715 students completed self‐report questionnaires measuring depressive symptoms, rumination, dysfunctional attitudes, and metacognitive beliefs. Regression analyses showed that metacognitive beliefs made a significant statistical contribution to depressive symptoms, after controlling for age, gender, rumination and dysfunctional attitudes. Furthermore, as predicted by the metacognitive model, the relationship between positive metacognitive beliefs and depressive symptoms was fully mediated by rumination, whilst the relationship between negative metacognitive beliefs about uncontrollability and danger and depressive symptoms was partially mediated by rumination. The results provide further empirical support for the metacognitive model of depression and indicate that positive and negative metacognitive beliefs play an integral role in the maintenance of depressive symptoms.     

Parent–adolescent attachment and procrastination: The mediating role of self-worth

Within the theoretical framework of attachment theory, the author examined associations between adolescents' procrastination and their attachment relationships with both mothers and fathers, and explored the potential mediation role of self-worth in these associations. Participants were 384 Chinese adolescents (49.6% boys, average age 15.13 years) from public schools in Shanghai, China. They completed self-report measures of 3 dimensions of parental attachment (i.e., trust, communication, and alienation), general self-worth, and procrastination. The results indicated that both paternal and maternal trust and paternal communication were negatively associated with higher levels of procrastination whereas both paternal and maternal alienation were positively associated with procrastination. In addition, self-worth mediated the associations among 3 dimensions of parental attachment and procrastination. The findings highlighted the importance of parental attachment-based intervention strategies to reduce procrastination among adolescents.     

Cognitive Vulnerabilities as Mediators between Emotional Abuse and Depressive Symptoms

This study tested whether childhood parental emotional abuse and peer emotional bullying serve as antecedents of depression in adolescence and identified the cognitive mechanisms involved in this process. It was hypothesized that the experience of emotional abuse would predict depressive symptoms via development of rumination and negative inferences. A 3-wave longitudinal study was carried out with 998 adolescents (471 girls and 526 boys) between 13 and 17 years of age. Results showed that emotional abuse by parents and peers at Time 1 predicted a worsening of several cognitive vulnerabilities at Time 2. In addition, brooding mediated between the experiences of abuse and the increase of depressive symptoms at Time 3. Thus, findings suggest that the experiences of childhood emotional abuse by parents and peers serve as antecedents to develop a negative cognitive style, vulnerability that, once developed, is a risk factor for the onset of depressive symptoms in adolescence.     

Suicidal ideation in adolescent psychiatric inpatients as associated with depression and attachment relationships

Examined suicidal ideation in adolescent psychiatric inpatients as associated with depressive symptoms and attachment to mother, father, and peers. Fifty-nine adolescent psychiatric inpatients (25 male, 34 female) completed self-report measures of suicidal ideation, depressive symptoms, and attachment. Attachment to mother accounted for significant variation in levels of depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. In addition, attachment to peers accounted for significant variation in suicidal ideation and girls' (but not boys') depressive symptoms. However, after adjusting for depressive symptoms, attachment variables failed to contribute additional variance in suicidal ideation. Self-reported depressive symptomatology remained the strongest predictor of suicidal ideation, regardless of its order in the regression analyses. Prevention and treatment efforts may focus on mother-adolescent attachment and peer attachment (particularly in girls) to reduce risk for depression and suicidal ideation.     

Loneliness and depressive symptoms: the mediating and moderating role of uncontrollable ruminative thoughts

Although feelings of loneliness often are accompanied by depressive symptoms, little is known about underlying mechanisms in this association. The present study sampled 370 college freshmen and investigated whether rumination (and its components of Uncontrollability, Causal Analysis, and Understanding) functioned as a mediator or moderator in the relationship between 2 types of loneliness (as experienced in the relationship with parents and with peers, respectively) and depressive symptoms. Results indicated that rumination partially mediated the relationship between peer-related loneliness and depressive symptoms and moderated the relationship between parent-related loneliness and depressive symptoms. In addition, the uncontrollable nature, rather than the content, of these ruminative thoughts about parent- and peer-related loneliness was particularly harmful in the development of depressive symptoms. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Worry and rumination: differential associations with anxious and depressive symptoms and coping behavior

Worry and rumination are closely allied cognitive processes that impact on the experience of anxious and depressive symptoms. Using a prospective design, this study examined overlapping and distinct features of worry and rumination in relation to symptoms and coping behavior in a nonclinical sample of Singaporean college students. Worry and rumination were highly correlated, but they retained distinct components that predicted anxious and depressive symptoms differentially within and across time. Specifically, worry was uniquely associated with anxious and depressive symptoms whereas rumination was uniquely related to depression. In comparison to rumination, worry emerged as the dominant cognitive vulnerability factor that predicted increments in symptoms over time. With regards to coping behavior, low perceived coping effectiveness partially mediated the relation between worry and increases in anxiety and depression. Conversely, rumination uniquely predicted higher disengagement from problems, which resulted in further exacerbation of depressive mood. These results demonstrated not only the distinct features of worry and rumination on coping behavior, but also the different coping pathways by which they differentially impact on subsequent symptoms.     

Interpersonal Style, Stress, and Depression: An Examination of Transactional and Diathesis-Stress Models

The present study examines a transactional, interpersonal model of depression in which stress generation (Hammen, 1991) in romantic relationships mediates the association between aspects of interpersonal style (i.e., attachment, dependency, and reassurance seeking) and depressive symptoms. It also examines an alternative, diathesis-stress model in which interpersonal style interacts with romantic stressors in predicting depressive symptoms. These models were tested in a sample of college women, both prospectively over a four-week period, as well as on a day-today basis using a daily diary methodology. Overall, there was strong evidence for a transactional, mediation model in which interpersonal style predicted romantic conflict stress, and in turn depressive symptoms. The alternative diathesis-stress model of depression was not supported. These results are interpreted in relation to previous research, and key limitations that should be addressed by future research are discussed.     

家庭压力源影响青少年抑郁体验:冗思的中介机制

采用方便抽样法从山东某初中和某高中抽取570名学生做问卷调查,考察家庭压力源对青少年抑郁体验的影响,特别是冗思作为应对方式的中介作用。路径分析的结果显示:(1)家庭冲突和父母期望均显著正向预测抑郁体验,且家庭冲突的预测作用更强,家庭规范对抑郁体验的预测作用不显著;(2)家庭冲突和父母期望均显著正向预测青少年冗思,家庭规范对冗思的预测作用不显著;(3)冗思显著正向预测抑郁体验;(4)冗思在家庭冲突与抑郁体验之间以及父母期望与抑郁体验之间均起中介作用。总体来看,冗思是家庭压力影响青少年抑郁体验的内部机制之一。