Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to review the literature that has examined adolescent attachment relations with parents, and any association between attachment and adolescent development or adjustment. The paper begins with a review of traditional attachment theory and concepts. The organizational perspective advanced by Sroufe and his colleagues is described in addition to other extensions of the study of attachment. The study of adolescent attachment is one extension of the attachment literature that has received increasing attention in recent years. A narrative review of studies of adolescent attachment is presented in which conceptualizations of adolescent attachment, methodologies, and results are described. The narrative review is followed by a metaanalytic review of this literature. The paper concludes by discussing the results of the reviews, the current state of adolescent attachment research, and some recommendations for further advancing the empirical and theoretical literature on adolescent attachment and adaptation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1969). Object relations, dependency, and attachment: A theoretical review of the infant-mother relationship.Child Develop. 40: 969–1025.
Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1972). Attachment and dependency: A comparison. In J. L. Gewirtz (ed.),Attachment and Dependence. Winston, Washington, DC.
Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1989). Attachments beyond infancy.Am. Psychol. 44: 709–716.
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., and Wall, S. (1978).Patterns of Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
Allison, M. D., and Sabatelli, R M. (1988). Differentiation and individuation as mediators of identity and intimacy in adolescence.J. Adoles. Res. 3: 1–16.
Armsden, G. C., and Greenberg, M. T. (1987). The inventory of parent and peer attachment: Individual differences and their relationship to psychological well-being in adolescence.J. Youth Adoles. 16: 427–453.
Baker, R. W., and Siryk, B. (1984). Measuring adjustment to college.J. Counsel. Psychol. 31: 179–189.
Benjamin, L. (1979). Structural analysis of differentiation failure.Psychiatry 42: 1–23.
Blos, P. (1979).The Adolescent Passage. International Universities Press, New York.
Bowlby, J. (1982a).Attachment and Loss, Vol. 1: Attachment. Basic Books, New York.
Bowlby, J. (1982b). Attachment and loss: Retrospect and prospect.J. Orthopsychiat. 52: 664–678.
Cassidy, J. (1988). Child-mother attachment and the self in six-year-olds.Child Develop. 59: 121–134.
Cheek, J. M., and Briggs, S. R. (1982). Self-consciousness and aspects of identity.J. Res. Personal. 16: 401–408.
Cohen, L. J. (1974). The operational definition of human attachment.Psychol. Bull. 81: 207–217.
Cooper, H. M. (1982). Scientific guidelines for conducting integrative research reviews.Rev. Educat. Res. 52: 291–302.
Cooper, H. M. (1989).Integrating Research: A Guide for Literature Reviews. Sage, Newbury Park, CA.
Damon, W., and Hart, D. (1982). The development of self-understanding from infancy through adolescence.Child Develop. 53: 841–864.
Easterbrooks, M. A., and Lamb, M. (1979). The relationship between quality of infant-mother competence in initial encounter with peers.Child Develop. 50: 380–387.
Erikson, E. H. (1968).Identity, Youth, and Crisis. Norton, New York.
Franz, C. E., and White, K. M. (1985). Individuation and attachment in personality development.J. Personal. 53: 224–256.
George, C., Kaplan, N., and Main, M. (1985). The attachment interview for adults. Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Berkeley.
Greenberg, M. T. (1982). Reliability and validity of the Inventory of Adolescent Attachments. Unpublished manuscript, University of Washington.
Greenberg, M. T., Siegel, J. M., and Leitch, C. J. (1983). The nature and importance of attachment relationships to parents and peers during adolescence.J. Youth Adoles. 12: 373–386.
Grotevant, H. D., and Cooper, C. R. (1986). Individuation in family relationships.Human Develop. 29: 82–100.
Hansburg, H. G. (1980).Adolescent Separation Anxiety (Vol. 2). Krieger, New York.
Hartup, W. H. (1989). Social relationships and their developmental significance.Am. Psychol. 44: 120–126.
Heard, D. H., and Lake, B. (1986). The attachment dynamic in adult life.Br. J. Psychiatry 149: 430–438.
Josselson, R. (1980). Ego development in adolescence. In Adelson, J. (ed.),Handbook of Adolescent Psychology. Wiley, New York.
Josselson, R. (1988). The embedded self: I and though revisited. In Lapsley, D. K. and Power, F. C. (eds.),Self, Ego, and Identity: Integrative Approaches. Springer, New York.
Kahn, R., and Antonucci, T. (1980). Convoys over the life course: Attachment, roles, and social supports. In Baltes, P., and Brim, O., Jr. (eds.),Lifespan Development and Behavior (Vol. 3). Academic Press, New York.
Kenny, M. E. (1987). The extent and function of parental attachment among first-year college students.J. Youth Adoles. 16: 17–27.
Kobak, R. R., and Sceery, A. (1988). Attachment in late adolescence: Working models, affect regulation, and representations of self and others.Child Develop. 59: 135–146.
Kroger, J. (1985). Separation-individuation and ego identity status in New Zealand university students.J. Youth Adoles. 14: 133–147.
Kroger, J., and Haslett, S. J. (1988). Separation-individuation and ego identity status in late adolescence: A two-year longitudinal study.J. Youth Adoles. 17: 59–79.
Lamb, M., Thompson, R. A., Gardner, W. P., Charnow, E. L., and Estes, D. (1984). Security of infantile attachment as assessed in the “strange situation”: Its study and biological interpretation.Behav. Brain Sci. 7: 127–171.
Lapsley, D. K., Rice, K. G., and FitzGerald, D. P. (1990). Adolescent attachment, identity, and adjustment to college: Implications for the continuity of adaptation hypothesis.J. Counsel, and Develop. 68: 561–565.
Lerner, R. M., and Ryff, C. D. (1978). Implementation of the life-span view of human development: The sample case of attachment. In Baltes, P. B. (ed.),Lifespan Development and Behaviors. Academic Press, New York.
Mahler, M., Pine, F., and Bergman, A. (1975).The Psychological Birth of the Human Infant. Basic Books, New York.
Main, M., and Goldwyn, R. (1985). Adult attachment classification system. Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Berkeley.
Main, M., Kaplan, N., and Cassidy, J. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood, and adulthood: A move to the level of representation. In Bretheron, I. and Waters, E. (eds.),Growing Points of Attachment Theory and Research. Monographs of the Society for Research on Child Development (Vol. 50). University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Matas, L., Arend, R. A., and Sroufe, L. A. (1978). Continuity of adaptation in the second year: The relationship between quality of attachment and later competence.Child Develop. 49: 547–556.
Marcia, J. E. (1966). Development and validation of ego identity status.J. Personal. Social Psychol. 3: 551–558.
McCall, R. B. (1977). Challenges to a science of developmental psychology.Child Develop. 48: 333–344.
Parker, G., Tupling, H., and Brown, L. B. (1979). A parental bonding instrument.Br. J. Med. Psychol. 52: 1–10.
Quintana, S. M., and Lapsley, D. K. (1987). Adolescent autonomy and ego identity: A structural equations approach to the continuity of adaptation.J. Adoles. Res. 2: 393–410.
Richman, J. A., and Flaherty, J. A. (1987). Adult psychosocial assets and depressive mood over time: Effects of internalized childhood attachments.J. Nerv. Mental Dis. 175: 703–712.
Rosenthal, R. (1984).Meta-Analytic Procedures for Social Research. Sage, Beverly Hills, CA.
Ryan, R. M., and Lynch, J. H. (1989). Emotional autonomy versus detachment: Revising the vicissitudes of adolescence and young adulthood.Child Develop. 60: 340–356.
Sroufe, L. A. (1979). The coherence of individual development.Am. Psychol. 34: 834–841.
Sroufe, L. A. (1983). Infant-caregiver attachment and patterns of adaptation in preschool: The roots of maladaptation and competence. In Perlmutter, M. (ed.),Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology (Vol. 16). Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
Sroufe, L. A., and Fleeson, J. (1986). Attachment and the construction of relationships. In Hartup, W. W., and Rubin, Z. (eds.),Relationships and Development. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
Sroufe, L. A., and Waters, E. (1977). Attachment as an organizational perspective.Child Develop. 48: 1184–1199.
Steinberg, L., and Silverberg, S. B. (1986). The vicissitudes of autonomy in early adolescence.Child Develop. 57: 841–851.
Waters, E., and Sroufe, L. A. (1983). Social competence as a developmental construct.Develop. Rev. 3: 79–97.
Waters, E., Wippman, J., and Sroufe, L. A. (1979). Attachment, positive affect, and competence in the peer group: Two studies in construct validation.Child Develop. 50: 821–829.
Wylie, R. C. (1979).The Self-Concept: Theory and Research on Selected Topics (rev. ed., Vol. 2). University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Received Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. This paper was completed while the author was a doctoral student at the University of Notre Dame. Major interests are in object relations theory and adolescent ego development. 511
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rice, K.G. Attachment in adolescence: A narrative and meta-analytic review. J Youth Adolescence 19, 511–538 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537478
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537478