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Attachment and adjustment in preadolescence

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Date Issued:
2006
Summary:
This concurrent correlational study examined the relations among perceived parenting, child coping/attachment style, and adjustment outcomes in middle childhood. Instruments measuring children's perceptions of their parents, their style of coping, and their adjustment were administered to 199 children in the third through eighth grades (mean age 11 years). This study tested newly developed self-report scales measuring aspects of disorganized attachment in middle childhood, identified perceived parenting correlates of five child coping styles, investigated how the five coping styles relate to adjustment outcomes, and explored the possibility of indecision interacting with other child coping styles to influence adjustment outcomes. The new measures of indecision, caregiving, and coercive coping styles proved to be reliable and related to perceived parenting and adjustment in meaningful ways. Perceptions of parents as being harassing and low in reliable support were linked with avoidant behaviors in children, whereas perceptions of parents as low in harassment and high in overprotectiveness were linked with preoccupied behaviors. Low reliable support and high levels of fear induction were associated with high levels of indecision, whereas high reliable support was correlated with caregiving behaviors and low reliable support was correlated with coercion. In regards to children's adjustment being affected by their coping style, evidence was found linking externalizing behaviors to coercive coping style and internalizing behaviors to caregiving coping style. When investigating interactions among coping styles predicting adjustment, indecision was found to interact with low levels of preoccupied coping in girls to predict externalizing behaviors, whereas indecision interacted with avoidant coping for both boys and girls to predict greater externalizing behaviors. Caregiving was found to weaken the link between indecision and externalizing and indecision was found to magnify the effects of coercion on externalizing behaviors. Finally, girls who were high in caregiving and low in indecision were found to exhibit increased internalizing behaviors.
Title: Attachment and adjustment in preadolescence.
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Name(s): Corby, Brooke C.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree Grantor
Perry, David G., Thesis Advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 2006
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 99 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: This concurrent correlational study examined the relations among perceived parenting, child coping/attachment style, and adjustment outcomes in middle childhood. Instruments measuring children's perceptions of their parents, their style of coping, and their adjustment were administered to 199 children in the third through eighth grades (mean age 11 years). This study tested newly developed self-report scales measuring aspects of disorganized attachment in middle childhood, identified perceived parenting correlates of five child coping styles, investigated how the five coping styles relate to adjustment outcomes, and explored the possibility of indecision interacting with other child coping styles to influence adjustment outcomes. The new measures of indecision, caregiving, and coercive coping styles proved to be reliable and related to perceived parenting and adjustment in meaningful ways. Perceptions of parents as being harassing and low in reliable support were linked with avoidant behaviors in children, whereas perceptions of parents as low in harassment and high in overprotectiveness were linked with preoccupied behaviors. Low reliable support and high levels of fear induction were associated with high levels of indecision, whereas high reliable support was correlated with caregiving behaviors and low reliable support was correlated with coercion. In regards to children's adjustment being affected by their coping style, evidence was found linking externalizing behaviors to coercive coping style and internalizing behaviors to caregiving coping style. When investigating interactions among coping styles predicting adjustment, indecision was found to interact with low levels of preoccupied coping in girls to predict externalizing behaviors, whereas indecision interacted with avoidant coping for both boys and girls to predict greater externalizing behaviors. Caregiving was found to weaken the link between indecision and externalizing and indecision was found to magnify the effects of coercion on externalizing behaviors. Finally, girls who were high in caregiving and low in indecision were found to exhibit increased internalizing behaviors.
Identifier: 9780542577741 (isbn), 12200 (digitool), FADT12200 (IID), fau:9107 (fedora)
Note(s): Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2006.
Subject(s): Parent and teenager
Attachment behavior in adolescence
Adolescent psychology
Child development
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12200
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.