Attachment to Parents and Peers as a Risk Factor for Adolescent Depressive Disorders: The Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation
Abstract
This study examined emotion regulation as a mediator in the relationship of attachment and depression in adolescents. Participants (N girls = 127; M age = 14.50; N boys = 121; M age = 14.31) completed self-report questionnaires of attachment to parents and peers, emotion regulation and depression. Models with dysfunctional emotion regulation as a mediation variable were tested via hierarchical multiple regression analyses and bootstrapping procedure. Results revealed significant relations between attachment to parents and peers, dysfunctional emotion regulation and depression. For girls, internal-dysfunctional emotion regulation was a mediator in the relation of attachment to parents and depression and partly mediated the association of attachment to peers. For boys, internal- and external-dysfunctional emotion regulation acted as partly mediators in association of attachment to parents and depression. Results indicate important mechanisms that contribute to the refinement of conceptual models and provide indications for gender specific prevention and intervention for depressive disorders.
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The evidence is indicative of an association between peer relationship quality and depressed mood in adolescents.
“The evidence is indicative of an association between peer relationship quality and depressed mood [4, 56–67, 83–86, 88, 92–95, 97, 98].”
From Association between friendship quality and subjective wellbeing among adolescents: a systematic review (2022) · cites this paper as [58]
There is a considerable lack of longitudinal studies and of studies of mediators and moderators (except one study of mediators) underlying the association between friendship quality and subjective wellbeing among adolescents.
“There are two major gaps in the literature that future research should address: scarcity of longitudinal studies, and absence of studies on moderators and mediators – except in one study of mediators [58] – that underlies the association between friendship quality and subjective wellbeing.”
From Association between friendship quality and subjective wellbeing among adolescents: a systematic review (2022) · cites this paper as [58]
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Alsarrani, A., Hunter, R. F., Dunne, L., & Garcia, L. (2022) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-022-14776-4 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Kullik, A., & Petermann, F.
- Affiliations
- University of Bremen (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Kullik, Angelika
- Venue
- Child Psychiatry & Human Development
- Published
- 2012-12-15
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 537-548
- ISSN
- 0009-398X (ISSN-L)
- 1573-3327
- OpenAlex
- W2069889495
- Cited by
- 99
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 6.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Child Psychiatry & Human Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- adolescent depression, parental attachment, peer attachment, emotion regulation, emotional dysregulation, internalizing problems, mediation, gender differences, depressive disorders, prevention and intervention
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Child, Depressive Disorder, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Object Attachment, Parent-Child Relations, Peer Group, Surveys and Questionnaires, Regression Analysis, Risk Factors, Sex Factors, Multivariate Analysis
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