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Abstract
Earlier studies on attachment and substance use disorders using the Hazan and Shaver (Citation1987) self-report mainly indicate a link with “avoidant” attachment styles. Studies working with the Adult Attachment Interview (Main & Goldwyn, Citation1998) have produced inconsistent results. The present study used the Bartholomew (Citation1990) interview coding system to assess attachment in a sample of 71 German opiate using, drug dependent adolescents (DDAs, age 14 – 25) and 39 non-clinical controls. Fearful attachment was predominant in DDAs, while controls were predominantly secure. Severity of drug use, as assessed with the European Addiction Severity Index (Gsellhofer, Fahrner, & Platt, Citation1994) and urinalyses, was positively correlated with fearful attachment, but negatively correlated with dismissing attachment. The presence of comorbid psychiatric disorders was associated with fearful attachment but not with addiction severity.
Acknowledgements
The background of this study was the research project “Familientherapeutische Fruehintervention bei Opiatabhaengigkeit—eine vergleichende Querschnitts-und Verlaufsuntersuchung” [Family therapy with opioid dependent adolescents—a comparative cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis]. The entire project was supported by Grant 01-EB − 9412 from the German Federal Ministry of Education, Science, Research, and Technology (BMBF). We thank Vera Des Marais for editing the English.