ARTICLE
Differential effects of maternal- and paternal-adolescent attachments on friendship security and intimacy
Ryan J. Persram,
Chiaki Konishi,
Corresponding Author
Ryan J. Persram
Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Correspondence
Ryan J. Persram, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, 3700 rue McTavish, Montreal, QC, H3A 1Y2, Canada.
Email: [email protected]
Contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorChiaki Konishi
Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Contribution: Data curation, Supervision, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorRyan J. Persram,
Chiaki Konishi,
Corresponding Author
Ryan J. Persram
Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Correspondence
Ryan J. Persram, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, 3700 rue McTavish, Montreal, QC, H3A 1Y2, Canada.
Email: [email protected]
Contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorChiaki Konishi
Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Contribution: Data curation, Supervision, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorFirst published: 23 September 2022
Abstract
The present study examined the differential contributions of adolescent-reported maternal and paternal attachment anxiety and avoidance on friendship security and intimacy. Participants were 776 Canadian adolescents between the ages of 13 and 19 years (M = 15.18, SD = 1.58) who provided ratings of their perceived attachment avoidance and anxiety towards their mothers and fathers and responded to measures of friendship security and intimacy. Findings showed that maternal and paternal attachment avoidance and not anxiety negatively predicted friendship security. Moreover, maternal attachment avoidance was negatively associated with friendship intimacy. Multigroup analyses showed that security was negatively predicted by maternal anxious attachment for junior high school boys and girls. Additionally, paternal avoidant attachment was negatively associated with friendship intimacy for junior high school boys and girls. These findings highlight the unique effects associated with maternal and paternal attachment on specific friendship features and underscore the importance of the role of fathers in adolescence.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
There are no conflicts of interest to report.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
Data are available upon request due to privacy/ethical restrictions.
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