The relation of attachment security status to effortful self-regulation: A meta-analysis.
Abstract
Secure attachment relationships have been described as having a regulatory function in regard to children's emotions, social cognition, and behavior. Although some theorists and researchers have argued that attachment affects children's self-regulation, most attachment theorists have not strongly emphasized this association. The goal of the current meta-analysis was to determine the magnitude of the relation between attachment security status and effortful control (EC)/top-down self-regulation in children up to 18 years of age. One hundred six papers met the inclusion criteria and 101 independent samples were used in analyses. When secure attachment status was compared with insecure attachment status, a significant relation (effect size [ES]) with EC favoring children with a secure attachment was found (100 studies; 20,350 participants; r = .20). A stronger relation was found when the same coder evaluated attachment than when the coder was different and when the measure of attachment was continuous; other moderators were not significant. Securely attached children were higher in EC than their avoidant (r = .10) or resistant (r = .17) counterparts. Children with organized attachments were higher in EC than those with disorganized attachments (r = .17), although this finding could be due to publication bias. For some comparisons of subgroups (B vs. A, B vs. C, and/or D vs. all others), moderation was found by source of information (higher ES for same reporter), age at assessment of EC and/or attachment (higher ES at older ages), method of attachment (lower ES for observational measures), time difference between assessments or research design (higher ESs for smaller time differences and concurrent findings), and published versus unpublished studies (higher ES for unpublished studies for A vs. B). (PsycINFO Database Record
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Attachment insecurity is a key factor in the developmental pathways from ACEs to adult psychopathology.
“They also reflect the broader literature identifying attachment insecurity as a key factor in the developmental pathways from ACEs to adult psychopathology [17, 22, 24].”
From The link of adverse childhood experiences and attachment to maladaptive personality traits in adults diagnosed with substance use disorder (2025) · cites this paper as [22]
Attachment security is positively linked to children's top-down self-regulation capacities.
“For instance, a meta-analysis [22] found a positive link between attachment security and children’s top-down self-regulation capacities, reinforcing its role in shaping core emotional and behavioral competencies.”
From The link of adverse childhood experiences and attachment to maladaptive personality traits in adults diagnosed with substance use disorder (2025) · cites this paper as [22]
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Spinrad, T. L., & Eisenberg, N. (2023) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781009304368.013 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Self-citationLiu, Q., Wang, X., Razza, R. A., & Vasilenko, S. A. (2024) · Child Abuse & Neglect · doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106703 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Pallini, S., Terrinoni, A., Iannello, S., Cerutti, R., Ferrara, M., Fantini, F., & Laghi, F. (2020) · Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior · doi:10.1111/sltb.12633 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Self-citationSun, X., Measelle, J. R., & Ablow, J. C. (2020) · Developmental Psychobiology · doi:10.1002/dev.22005 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Attachment styles, emotion regulation difficulties and mindfulness in substance use disorder
Çelik, F. G. H., Kiraz, S., & Hocaoğlu, Ç. (2023) · Journal of Substance Use · doi:10.1080/14659891.2023.2275019 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“In a meta-analysis, unlike secure attachment, insecure attachment was consistently associated with lower emotion regulation abilities (Pallini et al., 2018).”
Fuchshuber, J., Andres, D., Prandstätter, T., Roithmeier, L., Schmautz, B., Schwerdtfeger, A. R., & Unterrainer, . (2024) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2024.1380539 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“A meta-analysis of 100 studies ( N = 20,350) supporting the role of attachment and emotional dysregulation found that insecure attachment is consistently linked to lower emotion regulation skills than secure attachment (40).”
BackgroundParental Incarceration, Attachment to Caregivers, and Young Children's Physiological Stress
Muentner, L., Fanning, K. A., Pritzl, K., Kapoor, A., Weymouth, L., Krishnan, C. A., & Poehlmann, J. (2025) · Developmental Psychobiology · doi:10.1002/dev.70076 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“Recent meta-analytic work by Pallini et al. (2018) supports these potential connections, as the authors document a modest positive association between attachment security (both measured continuously and categorically) and children’s development of effortful control, an aspect of children’s…”
Jondec, A. F., & Barlow, J. (2022) · Child Abuse Review · doi:10.1002/car.2801 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Longobardi, C., Prino, L. E., Settanni, M., & Fabris, M. A. (2023) · Early Child Development and Care · doi:10.1080/03004430.2023.2286900 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Data from our study support the hypothesis that secure attachment to caregivers is associated with improved executive functioning (Heikamp et al., 2013; Hertz et al., 2019; Pallini et al., 2018; Regueiro et al., 2022; Schneider-Hasslo ff et al., 2016).”
Zhang, S., Chang, T., & Li, Z. (2024) · Psychology Research and Behavior Management · doi:10.2147/prbm.s463664 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“53,54 Compared to parents in Western cultures, parents in Chinese cultures are more inclined to exercise psychological control over their children.”
Kim, J. H., & Bost, K. K. (2022) · Pediatric Obesity · doi:10.1111/ijpo.12993 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Our findings support previous studies documenting associations between secure attachment, sensitive parenting in early childhood, and capacities to self-regulate.(10) The attachment system is an innate regulatory mechanism that promotes children's proximity to caregivers in times of distress, uncertainty, or threat.”
BackgroundResultMaternal psychological distress and temperament traits in children from infancy to late childhood
Lahti‐Pulkkinen, M., Lähdepuro, A., Lahti, J. M. T., Girchenko, P. V., Pyhälä, R., Reynolds, R. M., Villa, P., Laivuori, H. M., Kajantie, E., Heinonen, K., et al. (2024) · JCPP Advances · doi:10.1002/jcv2.12242 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“…andmother ‐ childattachment,sincemeta ‐ analyses show that the security of mother ‐ child attachment and parenting behaviors are associated with maternal distress and with child temperament (Barnes & Theule, 2019; Goodman et al., 2020; Pallini et al., 2018; Paulussen ‐ Hoogeboom et al., 2007).”
BackgroundWang, Y., Han, L., Yang, T., & Ma, Y. (2024) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1413899 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“Parents’ rearing styles significantly guide and shape the development of adolescents’ self-control (Li et al., 2019; Pallini et al., 2018; Yang et al., 2023) and can indirectly do so through factors such as family atmosphere and parent–child relationships (Moilanen et al., 2014; Mun et al., 2018).”
BackgroundFuchshuber, J., Koschutnig, K., Fink, A., Alexopoulos, J., Löffler-Stastka, H., & Unterrainer, H. (2025) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0318505 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Leblanc, É., Dégeilh, F., Beauchamp, M. H., & Bernier, A. (2022) · Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3758/s13415-022-00987-0 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“In fact, it has been observed that a dimensional approach to attachment assessment results in better prediction of child outcomes than categorical assessment (Pallini et al., 2018).”
BackgroundLindblom, J., & Bosmans, G. (2022) · Attachment & Human Development · doi:10.1080/14616734.2022.2071953 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“However, in line with previous research (Pallini et al., 2018), our data showed very small”
ResultMigalova, E., Furstova, J., Hasto, J., Tavel, P., & Kascakova, N. (2025) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-025-03331-6 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“They also reflect the broader literature identifying attachment insecurity as a key factor in the developmental pathways from ACEs to adult psychopathology [17, 22, 24].”
Sexual Victimization in Early Childhood: A Narrative Review of Clinical Aspects
Pereda, N., & Universidad de Barcelona, E. (2023) · Papeles del Psicólogo - Psychologist Papers · doi:10.23923/pap.psicol.3006 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Eisenberg, N. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108304443.003 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Pallini, S., Chirumbolo, A., Morelli, M., Baiocco, R., Laghi, F., & Eisenberg, N.
- Affiliations
- Roma Tre University (IT)
- Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
- Arizona State University (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Psychological Bulletin
- Published
- 2018-05
- Volume
- 144
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 501-531
- ISSN
- 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1455
- OpenAlex
- W2791019255
- Cited by
- 162
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 10
- FWCI
- 21.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- IRIS Research product catalog (Sapienza University of Rome) (submittedVersion)
- Iris (Roma Tre University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Keywords
- attachment security, effortful control, insecure attachment, disorganized attachment, attachment avoidance, resistant attachment, children, attachment theory, emotion regulation, publication bias
- MeSH terms
- Self-Control, Adolescent, Child, Child Behavior, Child, Preschool, Emotions, Female, Humans, Male, Object Attachment
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