Parental attachment, coping, and psychological adjustment among adolescents following an earthquake: a longitudinal study

ABSTRACT

Background and objective: The study aim was to examine the predictive effect of parental attachment on positive psychological outcomes (posttraumatic growth, PTG) and negative psychological outcomes (posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression symptoms), and to test the mediating role of positive and negative coping in the relationship among adolescents following an earthquake in China.

Design: The study used a longitudinal design with a 6-month time interval.

Method: Data was collected from middle schools in the most severely affected areas at 18 and 24 months following an earthquake. Data were analyzed from 398 adolescents who completed self-report measures of parental attachment, coping, PTSD, depression, and PTG. Path analysis was conducted to examine the relationships among the main study variables.

Results: Secure parental attachment predicted lower PTSD and depression symptoms at 24-months follow-up, and negative coping partly mediated the effects of parental attachment on PTSD and depression. No significant association was observed between parental attachment and PTG.

Conclusions: The findings indicate that secure parental attachment had a protective effect for adolescents after the disaster. Such attachment may reduce the use of negative coping and in turn decrease psychological distress over time.

KEYWORDS:

• Parental attachment
• coping
• PTSD
• depression
• PTG
• earthquake

Acknowledgements

We thank the support from participating schools and students, and thank Diane Williams, PhD, from Liwen Bianji, Edanz Group China (www.liwenbianji.cn/ac), for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Projects of Major Research of Social Science of Beijing, China (Grant No: 15ZDA11).