Longitudinal association between adolescent attachment, adult romantic attachment, and emotion regulation strategies

Abstract

Attachment security towards parents and peers in adolescence, and romantic attachment styles and emotion regulation strategies in young adulthood, were evaluated using an eight-year longitudinal design. Fifty-six young adults completed the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) at age 14, and then, at age 22, the Experience in Close Relationships (ECR) and the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), an emotion regulation questionnaire concerning coping strategies, including task-oriented versus emotion-oriented foci. Results indicated that greater insecurity to parents and peers in adolescence predicted a more anxious romantic attachment style and greater use of emotion-oriented strategies in adulthood. Concurrently, anxious adult attachment style was related to more emotion-oriented strategies, whereas an avoidant attachment style was related to less support-seeking. Analyses also identified emotion-oriented coping strategies as a partial mediator of the link between adolescent attachment insecurity to parents and adult anxious attachment, and a complete mediator of the association between adolescent attachment insecurity to peers and adult anxious attachment. These findings support the core assumption of continuity in attachment theory, where relationships to parents influence close romantic relationships in adulthood.

Keywords:

• parent–adolescent attachment
• peer–adolescent attachment
• adult romantic attachment
• emotion regulation strategies

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants and doctoral scholarships received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Fonds Québécois de Recherche sur la Société et la Culture (FQSRC). We thank Jean Bégin for his valuable assistance in the research project.