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Cited by 112Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentAttachment and Relationship DynamicsAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes

Mother–child attachment and social anxiety symptoms in middle childhood

Open access
Brumariu, Laura E., Kerns, Kathryn A.·2008·Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology
DOI 10.1016/j.appdev.2008.06.002PMC PMC2574513
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Abstract

Literature suggests that parent-child attachment and anxiety symptoms are related. One purpose of the present study was to assess whether attachment patterns relate differentially to social anxiety aspects (fear of negative evaluation, social anxiety and distress in new situations, and generalized anxiety and distress). The second purpose was to investigate these links both longitudinally and concurrently in middle childhood. Children in grades 3 and 5 (N = 74) completed measures of secure, ambivalent, and avoidant attachments with mothers and a measure of social anxiety symptoms in grade 5. Longitudinal analyses showed that ambivalent attachment was most consistently related to social anxiety. Concurrent measures of attachment and social anxiety showed that lower attachment security and higher ambivalent attachment were most consistently related to higher social anxiety. Concurrent attachment predicted variance in social anxiety after controlling for earlier attachment. Findings suggest that anxiety interventions might target attachment.

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  • Brumariu and Kerns (2008) conducted a 2-year longitudinal study with children ages 9 to 11 and found different types of attachment insecurity relate to diverse aspects of social anxiety.

    “They conducted a 2-year longitudinal study with children ages 9 to 11 to measure the influence of attachment to parents and social anxiety.According to their findings, there exist different types of attachment insecurity to parents that respectively relate to diverse aspects of social anxiety.”

    From Social anxiety mediates the effect of attachment to parents on friendships and loneliness during the college transition (2023) · cites this paper as Brumariu & Kerns, 2008

    The Method (sections 2.1–2.2) describes children assessed at mean ages 9.1 and 10.96, approximately two years apart. The Discussion (section 4) reports that attachment patterns related differently to aspects of social anxiety. However, the study measured attachment to mothers, not to parents generally; its reported associations also do not establish the causal ‘influence’ implied by the citing sentence. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • Brumariu and Kerns (2008) suggest that the relationship between attachment security to parents and social anxiety might be more complicated than initially thought.

    “Furthermore, Brumariu and Kerns (2008) suggests that the relationship between attachment security to parents and social anxiety might be more complicated than we initially thought.”

    From Social anxiety mediates the effect of attachment to parents on friendships and loneliness during the college transition (2023) · cites this paper as Brumariu & Kerns, 2008

    The Discussion says attachment patterns relate differently to dimensions of social anxiety, supporting the suggestion that the relationship is more complex than a simple security–anxiety link. But the study examined attachment with mothers only; it identifies attachment with fathers as a question for future research, so the broader reference to parents is not fully supported. (LLM, conf=0.83)

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1 of the 63 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Booth-LaForce C, Rubin KH, Rose-Krasnor L, Burgess KB. Attachment and friendship predictors of psychosocial functioning in middle childhood and the mediating role of social support and self-worth. In: Kerns KA, Richardson RA, editors. Attachment in middle childhood. Guilford; NY: 2005. pp. 161–188. [Google Scholar]
  2. Verschueren K, Marcoen A. Perceived security of attachment to mother and father. In: Kerns KA, Richardson RA, editors. Attachment in middle childhood. Guilford; NY: 2005. pp. 212–230. [Google Scholar]

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Authors
Brumariu, L. E., & Kerns, K. A.
Affiliations
Kent State University (US)
Corresponding author
Brumariu, Laura E.
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2008-09
Volume
29
Issue
5
Pages
393-402
ISSN
0193-3973 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.appdev.2008.06.002
PMC
PMC2574513
OpenAlex
W2000774211
Cited by
112
References
63
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 8
FWCI
6.69
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD032377)
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
maternal attachment, social anxiety, middle childhood, ambivalent attachment, attachment avoidance, secure attachment, fear of negative evaluation, generalized anxiety disorder, anxiety intervention, attachment security

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