Early evidence of parental attachment among polish adolescents

Abstract

Parental attachment is important for adolescents’ development as well as cultural context. Poland used to be collectivist but now is closer to individualistic due to social and economic transformation. Few studies have examined parental attachment and self-esteem among Polish adolescents. This descriptive study (N = 303 Polish adolescents) investigated the levels of parental attachment, gender differences, preferred attachment figure, association with self-esteem and cultural differences with collectivistic (China) and individualistic (Italy) cultures. The results indicated that: (1) there was no gender difference in parental attachment; (2) mother was the preferred attachment figure; (3) parental attachment was related to self-esteem; and (4) cultural differences were found. Findings were discussed in terms of Polish sociopolitical situation.

A Cross-Cultural Study on Attachment and Adjustment Difficulties in Adolescence: The Mediating Role of Self-Control in Italy, Spain, China, and Poland

“…Differentiating the two parental figures, it seems that, in general, mothers are the preferred parental figure in all four countries [34,37,40]. Moreover, as regards the interplay between attachment and self-control associated with adolescents' mental health, evidence has found comparable associative patterns between attachment, self-control, and depressive symptoms among Italian and Chinese adolescents [37].…”

“…It is noteworthy the differential contribution of maternal vs. paternal attachment upon adolescents' adjustment. Indeed, although mothers have historically been the parental figure mostly and mainly involved, compared to fathers, in the child-rearing process [17,[30][31][32][33][34], fathers also contribute to children and adolescents' adjustment [35][36][37][38][39][40]. However, research findings have highlighted the differential contribution of paternal vs. maternal attachment upon youngsters' adjustment and mental health changes as a function of the youth's gender [31,35,38,39,41], culture [42,43], and the related parenting practices [43,44].…”

“…However, research findings have highlighted the differential contribution of paternal vs. maternal attachment upon youngsters' adjustment and mental health changes as a function of the youth's gender [31,35,38,39,41], culture [42,43], and the related parenting practices [43,44]. As such, although it is clear that attachment to both parental figures is protective toward adolescent adjustment [35][36][37][38][39][40], the different influence of attachment to mothers vs. fathers needs to be further investigated.…”

“…This might limit the development of a specific one-to-one attachment relationship between the child and the parent, although not limiting the child possibility to develop relational ties [33,85]. Nonetheless, little work is available on attachment in Poland [40].…”

“…These differences in family structuring are somewhat reflected in research studies investigating adolescents' parental attachment among the considered countries [36,40,86]. For instance, comparing Polish, Chinese, and Italian adolescents, it was shown that the levels of attachment to both parental figures were generally higher among Polish adolescents as compared to the Chinese ones, while the Italian counterparts showed the highest attachment overall [36,37].…”