Abstract
Within the theoretical framework of attachment theory, this study examined associations between adolescents’ attachment relationships with both mother and father and their academic adjustment, and explored the potential mediation role of self-worth in the associations. Participants were 384 Chinese adolescents (49.6% male, average age = 15.13 years) from public schools in Shanghai, China. They completed self-report measures of mother–adolescent attachment, father–adolescent attachment, general self-worth, academic engagement and school grades. The results indicated that adolescents’ attachments to both parents were associated with higher levels of academic engagement. There was partial support of the mediating role of self-worth, as adolescents who had high levels of parent–adolescent attachment were more likely to have high levels of self-worth, which in turn enhanced their academic engagement and then improved high school grades. The findings highlighted the importance of parental attachment-based intervention strategies to promote and maintain academic adjustment among adolescents.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (31500901), Teaching and Research Section of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (JX09JC03201601), and Education Project for Young Scholar, Shanghai Planning Project of Philosophy and Social Sciences, China (B1701).
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Chen, BB. Parent–Adolescent Attachment and Academic Adjustment: The Mediating Role of Self-Worth. J Child Fam Stud 26, 2070–2076 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0728-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0728-2