Parental Bipolar Disorder and Attachment Insecurity in Young Adults

Abstract

Maternal depression predicts attachment insecurity in children, but parental bipolar disorder effects are less clear, particularly as children emerge into young adulthood. We assessed attachment in young adult children of parents with bipolar disorder (vs. depression and no mood disorder). Participants completed romantic attachment and retrospective parenting behavior self-reports, and semi-structured diagnostic interviews. Young adults with parental bipolar disorder endorsed more Avoidant and Anxious attachment, with father relationship quality partially mediating the effect. Results underscore the association of parental mood disorders with offspring attachment in emerging adulthood and highlight the importance of fathers in this dynamic.

Keywords:

• Parent–child relationships
• attachment
• young adults
• parental bipolar disorder
• parental depression
• retrospective design

Disclosure Statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.