There is considerable interest in relations between sexual behavior and romantic attachment styles in adolescence as attachment needs are increasingly met through intimate partners rather than parents. The objectives of this research were to organize a measure of sexual behavior within an attachment theory framework, and then show that this new…

Integration of adult attachment and psychosocial development theories suggests that adolescence is a time when capacities for romantic intimacy and identity formation are co-evolving. The current study addressed direct, indirect and moderated associations among identity and romantic attachment constructs with a diverse sample of 2178 middle…

This study examined the relationship between "theory of mind" and attachment-related anxiety and avoidance in adolescence. The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" test and the "Experiences in Close Relationships--Relationship Structures" questionnaires were administered to 402 14-19 year-old adolescents. Contrary to…

In this study with 236 Portuguese university students, we examined two competing models for understanding identity. In the first model, the direct independent effects of parental and romantic attachment on identity were tested. The second model examined the mediating role of romantic attachment representations in the link between parental…

This study used data gathered over the course of a New Zealand longitudinal study (N = 924) to examine the relationships between measures of parental bonding and attachment in adolescence (age 15-16) and later personal adjustment (major depression; anxiety disorder; suicidal behaviour; illicit drug abuse/dependence; crime) assessed up to the age…

We examined relations among perceived parenting practices (support and psychological control), attachment dimensions for romantic relationships (anxiety and avoidance) and exploration of the dating identity among actively dating adolescents in two high school aged samples. In the all female sample of Study 1 (n = 653) and the gender balanced…

Identity formation and the perceived quality of one's peer relationships are theorized to be intimately linked in emerging adulthood. The present study examined the associations between identity styles (i.e., information-oriented, normative, and diffuse-avoidant styles) and the quality of relationships with peers (as indexed by friendship quality…

Recent literature suggests that school connectedness (SC) may be a key determinant of adolescent mental health. Specifically, SC has been found to have a negative relationship with adolescent depression. In the current, cross sectional study, we examine whether the relationship between SC and symptoms of low mood is dampened or moderated by…

The aim of this study was twofold: a) to test the mediation role of attachment between parenting practices and aggressiveness, and b) to clarify the differential role of mothers and fathers with regard to aggressiveness. A total of 554 adolescents (330 girls and 224 boys), ages ranging between 16 and 19, completed measures of mothers' and fathers'…

Because the ability to flexibly experience and appropriately express emotions across a range of developmentally relevant contexts is crucial to adaptive functioning, we examined how adolescent attachment security may be related to more functional emotional behavior during a relationship promoting interaction task. Data were collected from 74 early…

In this study, the validity of a self-report measure of children's perceived attachment security (the Kerns Security Scale) was tested using adolescents. With regards to predictive validity, the Security Scale was significantly associated with (1) observed mother-adolescent interactions during conflict and (2) parent- and teacher-rated social…

In early adolescence, attachment security reflects not only the quality of ongoing relationships with parents, but also how adolescents process social relationships with "others"--that is, their "social value orientation"--with possible implications for adolescents' risk-taking. In this study, a sample of Italian early…

The purpose of this study was to examine the growth trajectories from early to late adolescence of teacher ratings of students' behavior problems from 9th through 11th grade and student self-reports of alcohol use in a sample of predominately minority adolescents (n = 179, 90% African-American and/or Hispanic, 43% boys, 57% girls) in a large,…

The present study was designed to examine the effects of school engagement on risky behavior in adolescence. Using data from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD), a longitudinal study of U.S. adolescents, discrete-time survival analyses were conducted to assess the effect of behavioral and emotional school engagement on the initiation…

Capturing the multiple aspects of the romantic peer context is a significant challenge for research. One often recommended option is to use reports of multiple relationship features from both members of the romantic dyad. Using a new measure, we extended an existing model of dyadic perception (Kenny & Acitelli, 2001) to investigate associations…