Parental support and insecure attachment development: the cortisol stress response as a moderator

ABSTRACT

The current study investigated whether variations at the level of the cortisol stress response moderate the association between parental support and attachment development. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a one-year longitudinal study with two waves in which 101 children (56% girls, M_age = 11.15, SD_age = 0.70) participated. Attachment anxiety and avoidance were measured at baseline (Wave 1) and one year later (Wave 2). Parental support and children’s cortisol stress response during the Trier Social Stress Test were measured at Wave 2. Children’s cortisol stress response was found to moderate the association between parental support and relative change in anxious attachment. A strong cortisol stress response weakened the associated between parental support and relative change in anxious attachment. No moderation effects were found for relative change in avoidant attachment.

KEYWORDS:

• Attachment
• longitudinal
• early adolescence
• cortisol stress response
• parental support

Disclosure statement

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

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2021.1907968

Notes

1. Additional information about these analyses can be requested from the corresponding author.

2. Additional information about these analyses can be requested from the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the KU Leuven - Internal Funds [C14/16/040]; Research Foundation - Flanders [G075718N].