Attachment Security in Childhood Predicts Parent-Teen Conflict: A Partial Mediation Through Emotional Connectedness

Presenter: Yerin Jang

Faculty Sponsor: Kirby Deater-Deckard

School: UMass Amherst

Research Area: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences

Session: Poster Session 5, 3:15 PM - 4:00 PM, Auditorium, A11

ABSTRACT

Adolescence typically brings increases in parent–teen conflict, yet securely attached youth tend to engage in more constructive conflict strategies, including problem solving, negotiation, and reduced escalation. While recent longitudinal research confirms that secure attachment serves as a protective factor against destructive conflict, few studies have examined whether positive socio-emotional functioning—especially emotional connectedness—mediates the link between earlier attachment and later parent–teen conflict dynamics during puberty. This study examines two related questions: whether attachment security at age 15 predicts parent–teen conflict at age 16 (including frustration, escalation, and aggression), and whether emotional connectedness at age 16 mediates the attachment–conflict relationship.

Data was drawn from the Parenting Across Cultures (PAC) study, a longitudinal investigation spanning nine countries: China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States. Each country contributed ~100 to 200 adolescents, yielding a total analytic sample of 1,573 adolescents with roughly equal numbers of boys and girls. Attachment security and EPOCH well-being dimensions were measured alongside parent–teen conflict indicators reported by both mothers and fathers.

Results revealed a strong positive effect of attachment security on emotional connectedness (β = .495, p < .001), but connectedness did not fully explain conflict outcomes. The strongest pathway was the direct effect from attachment to conflict, indicating that secure adolescents tend to engage in less escalatory interactions independently of their emotional connectedness. These findings suggest that secure attachment is a key protective factor against parent–teen conflict during adolescence, while connectedness plays a supporting but not central role.

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