A new study examined emotional attachment between members of families with an adolescent or a young adult (18-23 years of age). Results showed that emotional attachment in these families can be described using three distinct psychological components and that an increase in stress of parents predicted attachment insecurity in the family. The study was published in the Journal of Marriage and Family.
When children grow up to become young adults, they enter a period of dramatic transitions. These transitions include leaving the parental home, developing a career, forming long-term romantic relationships, and starting a family. This is a period when attachment of young adults to their parents changes as they seek to separate and form strong attachments outside their childhood family.
However, although the (emotional) attachment to parents changes and is renegotiated, a successful transition through this period means that this renegotiation is successful and that the relationship with parents becomes different but remains intact. This is crucial for a healthy and fulfilling adulthood. It is particularly important in the context of extended transition to adulthood that is typical of modern developed societies.
“The developmental period from late adolescence to young adulthood is often marked by significant life changes. These changes affect both young adults and their families of origin, which means they all need to adjust and renegotiate their relationships,” said study author Danming An, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Iowa.
During this period, parents may also experience increased stress related to their role as parents when their children reach young adulthood. This is particularly likely when family members have difficulty adjusting to their new life roles and relationships. This type of stress is called “parenting stress.”
“We were interested in understanding mutual attachment relationships in the families of young adults, as well as how attachments among family members are associated with parents’ perceived stress about both parent-youth and interparental relationships,” An explained.
To study the properties of emotional attachment in families with young adults and the association between parental stress and the security of this attachment, An and her colleagues analyzed data from a longitudinal study of mothers and infants from the U.S. East Coast metropolitan area. This project started back in 1988 and has been running for over 20 years.
“Data used in this paper are part of a longitudinal research study of the Child and Family Research Section in the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development,” An noted.
The study used data from periods when the child was in late adolescence (18 years of age) and young adulthood (23 years of age). The average age of mothers and fathers was 50 and 52 years, respectively, when their child, now adolescent, was 18 years old. It was 55 and 67, when their child, now young adult, reached 23. Data from 156 families, consisting of mother, father and their child (now adolescent/young adult) were used.
All participants completed assessments of their attachment to the other two family members participating in the study (Adult Attachment Scale) when the child (young adult) was 23 years old. Parents completed assessments of parenting stress when their child included in the study was 18 and 23 years old (Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents).
Results showed that attachment in these families can be adequately described through three components: each family member’s attachment style, the characteristics of each family member as an attachment figure, and specific patterns of attachment between family members. Additionally, an increase in parenting stress of parents predicted the increase in attachment insecurity within the family.
“In most cases, attachment security among young adults and their parents depends on multiple factors,” An told PsyPost. “Each family member’s characteristics (such as how they generally perceive and react to close relationships) and dyad-specific interactions between family members contribute to attachment security in the family.”
“Increases in stress from late adolescence to young adulthood within family member dyads is associated with less secure attachment in young adulthood, such that family members in the dyad may have trouble trusting and relying on one another, and feel less secure about and respond less positively to their family in general.”
“However, when there is tension in a parent-youth dyad, the involved parent and the young adult tend to seek closeness and support from the other parent. This dynamic suggests that one parent may be able to intervene positively when the other parent and young adult child are in conflict.”
An also described a finding that was particularly surprising.
“Our findings revealed interesting asymmetries between mother-youth and father-youth relationships,” she explained. “For example, young adults’ attachments to their mothers are primarily explained by their personal characteristics, such as the young adult’s general perception about close relationships and the mother’s general response style – that is, as long as the young adult has a positive view of family relationships, and the mother generally responds positively to the family, the young adult is likely to be securely attached to the mother.”
“By contrast, young adults’ attachments to their fathers are not only based on young adults’ and their fathers’ general personal characteristics, but also the young adult’s unique interpersonal dynamics with their father,” An said. “Perhaps in traditional nuclear families, mothers serve as a ‘default’ and consistent secure base, whereas young adults’ relationships with their fathers depend more on fathers’ roles, resources, personality compatibility, etc.”
The study provides important insights into the attachment processes occurring in families of young adults. However, certain limitations should be taken into account. Notably, the sample size was not large enough to compare families of young adults of different gender. The sample consisted mostly of European American intact families of middle and upper socioeconomic status. Results on families with different cultural and social backgrounds might not be the same.
“Attachment relationships in the family vary across different family structures and cultural traditions and can depend on the family’s social and economic resources,” An said. “Findings from our sample of mostly White, middle-class nuclear families may not generalize to the whole population. We hope future work can address the diverse ways family members attach to one another in different ethnic and cultural groups and contexts.”
The study, “Parenting stress and attachment insecurity in young adulthood: A social relations model”, was authored by Danming An, Justin Jager, Diane L. Putnick, and Marc H. Bornstein.
