Adolescents’ Attachment: Content and Discriminant Validity of the Friends and Family Interview

Pace, Cecilia Serena; Muzi, Stefania; Steele, Howard

doi:10.1007/s10826-019-01654-8

Cited by 23 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Pre-pandemic groups for the comparison were drawn by Marino et al ( 23 ), Pace and Muzi ( 10 ), and Pace et al ( 56 ) because the community adolescents from these studies were similar to participants, but their assessments were carried out before the pandemic (between 2019 and January 2020). Indeed, adolescents in these studies lived in Northern Italy and in low-risk intact families, similarly than participants.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This group was compared on prevalence and scores for binge eating attitudes and for emotional-behavioral symptoms (using unpublished data) because the Italian validation study ( 57 ) did not report the prevalence and mean scores of the normative Italian sample in the Youth Self Report [YSR; ( 58 )] here used. The group from Pace et al ( 56 ); N = 110, age-range 11–17 years, M = 14.22, SD = 1.84, 50% boys) also came from the same region and had similar social-familiar backgrounds of participants, showing no difference in gender distribution, χ 2 (1) = 2.54, p = 0.120 φ = −0.11 (95% CI 0.36–1.12), but they were younger than participants, t (170) = 4.29, p = 0.001 (95% CI 0.65–1.77). Given this study employed the Friends and Family Interview [FFI; ( 45 )], this pre-pandemic group was selected because this was the largest group of Italian community teenagers assessed with the same instrument.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Friends and Family Interview - COVID-19 version [FFI; ( 45 ); Italian version ( 56 )] is an audio- or videotaped age-adapted semi-structured interview to assess attachment representations in children and adolescents from 10 to 17 years of age. The child is asked about different relationships with potential attachment figures in adolescence, such as parents, but also friends, sibling(s), and at school.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What's Happened to Italian Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Preliminary Study on Symptoms, Problematic Social Media Usage, and Attachment: Relationships and Differences With Pre-pandemic Peers

2021

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Italian adolescents were confined at home for 3 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed them to feelings of fear, uncertainty, and loneliness that may have increased their vulnerability to emotional-behavioral symptoms (e.g., anxiety) and binge-eating attitudes. Potential risk factors for these psychopathological symptoms are problematic social media usage and attachment insecurity. Therefore, this study aimed: (1) to assess emotional-behavioral symptoms, binge eating, problematic social media usage, and attachment representations of adolescents during the pandemic, comparing them with prepandemic similar samples; (2) to investigate relationships among variables, exploring the role of problematic social media usage and insecure attachment as risk factors for more psychopathological symptoms. Participants were 62 community adolescents aged 12–17 years, enrolled through schools, and assessed online through the following measures: Youth Self-Report for emotional-behavioral problems, Binge-Eating Scale for binge eating, Social Media Disorder Scale for problematic social media usage, and the Friends and Family Interview for attachment. The main results were: (1) 9.4% of adolescents showed clinical rates of emotional-behavioral symptoms and 4.8% of binge eating attitudes. The comparison with pre-pandemic samples revealed that pandemic teenagers showed lower internalizing, but higher other problems (e.g., binge drinking, self-destructive behaviors) and more problematic social media usage than pre-pandemic peers. No differences in binge-eating attitudes and attachment were revealed (76% secure classifications). (2) Problematic social media usage was related to more binge eating and emotional-behavioral problems, predicting 5.4% of both delinquent and attention problems. Attachment disorganization predicted 16.5% of internalizing problems, somatic complaints, and social and identity-related problems. In conclusion, confinement did not increase adolescents' internalizing symptoms -i.e., vulnerability to mood disorders of an anxious-depressive type- which even decreased. However, teenagers may have expressed their discomfort through other problems and symptoms of social media disorder. Further studies should explore the role of adolescents' problematic social media usage and attachment insecurity as risk factors for additional psychopathological symptoms.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

What's Happened to Italian Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Preliminary Study on Symptoms, Problematic Social Media Usage, and Attachment: Relationships and Differences With Pre-pandemic Peers

2021

Self Cite

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“…(7) Finally, the differentiation of parental representation is examined by observing the participant’s ability to compare and contrast the quality of one’s relationships with each caregiver. For the present study, the Italian version by [ 61 ] was used.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Link between Attachment and Gambling in Adolescence: A Multiple Mediation Analysis with Developmental Perspective, Theory of Mind (Friend) and Adaptive Response

Terrone

Gori

Topino

et al. 2021

JPM

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Introduction: Several studies have supported the evidence that attachment styles are a central factor in adolescent gambling problems. On this theoretical basis, the aim of the present study is to analyze a hypothesized mediation model exploring both the direct and indirect effects of insecure attachment on gambling disorder by investigating the role of the developmental perspective, theory of mind (friend) and adaptive response in that relationship. Method: The sample consists of 178 adolescents who underwent the Measures: South Oaks Gambling Screen—Revised for Adolescents and Friends and Family Interview. Result: The mediation analysis was conducted following Hayes’ (2018) procedure, using Model 6. The results showed a significant association between insecure attachment and gambling disorder (β = 0.669; p < 0.001). The findings also highlighted a significant chained mediation model in which insecure attachment negatively influenced the developmental perspective (β = −0.742; p < 0.001), which affected the theory of mind toward one’s own best friend (β = 0.352; p < 0.001). Conclusions: The results highlighted a significant role of insecure attachment in predicting the symptomatic expression of gambling among adolescents, specifically impacting the development perspective, theory of mind toward one’s best friend and adaptive response to stress, which were linked to each other by a sequential influence. Therefore, our results showed that a poor developmental self-vision predicted a dysfunctional theory of mind toward the best friend. This could hinder the formation of positive peer relationships, which are crucial for the development of one’s identity.

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“…Relatedly, as adolescents' social networks enlarge [23], parents may be less proximal, prompting adolescents to seek support from peers. Last, adolescents typically desire greater independence from parents [24] as part of identity development [25,26], and may be less willing to accept help from parents [27]. When considering the transfer of the attachment-related functions during adolescence, it is important to acknowledge, however, that relationships with peers do not entirely replace relationships with parents; rather, numerous studies have concluded that parental and peer attachments are positively correlated [28], parent and peer attachments may fulfil different functions in adolescent development [29,30], and parents remain important sources of support for adolescents, particularly in times of danger and distress [31].…”

Section: Attachment Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring mentalization, trust, communication quality, and alienation in adolescents

Clarke

Rose

2020

PLoS ONE

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Introduction A growing body of evidence has demonstrated the importance of mentalization for adolescents' psychosocial functioning; however, further research is needed to understand links between mentalization and other socio-cognitive factors. The aim of this quantitative, crosssectional study was to investigate the relationship between a teen's capacity to mentalize and three attachment-related factors: parent-teen trust, parent-teen communication, and parent-teen alienation. Methods In an online survey, 82 (mainly) Australian adolescents (57 female; 23 male; 2 non-binary; mean age 17.09 years) completed: i) The Children's Eyes Test, which measured mentalization; and ii) The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment-45, which measured trust, communication quality, and alienation. Results In teens' relationships with both mothers and fathers, trust and communication quality were significantly positively correlated (p = .001) when controlling for age and gender. Both were significantly negatively correlated with alienation (p = .001) with control variables included. Capacity to mentalize did not correlate with trust, communication quality, or alienation in relationships with either mothers or fathers (p � .05). Conclusions Possible reasons are proposed for why no relationship was found between mentalization and trust, communication quality, or alienation. Implications for future research are discussed.

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Adolescents’ Attachment: Content and Discriminant Validity of the Friends and Family Interview

Cited by 23 publications

References 42 publications

What's Happened to Italian Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Preliminary Study on Symptoms, Problematic Social Media Usage, and Attachment: Relationships and Differences With Pre-pandemic Peers

What's Happened to Italian Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Preliminary Study on Symptoms, Problematic Social Media Usage, and Attachment: Relationships and Differences With Pre-pandemic Peers

The Link between Attachment and Gambling in Adolescence: A Multiple Mediation Analysis with Developmental Perspective, Theory of Mind (Friend) and Adaptive Response

Exploring mentalization, trust, communication quality, and alienation in adolescents

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