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Adolescents’ Attachment to Parents and Peers: Links to Young Adulthood Friendship Quality

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Abstract

Few studies have been carried out on emerging adults’ friendships and on their developmental roots. Research suggests that in adolescence, both attachment to parents and attachment to peers play a role in future socio-emotional development. The aim of the present study was to compare attachment in these two types of relationships in adolescence according to gender and test whether they respectively predicted the perception of best friendship in early adulthood. A sample of 83 participants (49 girls) was seen in early adolescence (M = 13.66 years, SD = 0.64) and 7 years later (mean age = 21.15 years, SD = 0.83). At T1, participants completed the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, which measures attachment using three subscales (communication, alienation and trust) and one global security score. At T2, they completed the McGill Friendship Questionnaire. Results show that in adolescence, boys report higher security with parents compared to peers (mainly due to better communication), unlike girls who obtain higher scores with peers. Longitudinal findings reveal that alienation in the relation with parents is what best predicts friendship quality in early adulthood. These findings underline the specific internal working models at play in socio-emotional development and the way gender differences evolve from adolescence to early adulthood.

Highlights

  • Contrary to female adolescents, males reported higher security with parents compared to peers (mainly due to better communication).

  • Female adolescents reported better communication with peers than males.

  • No gender difference in friendship quality in emerging adulthood was found.

  • Results suggest that the progressive broadening of attachment from parents to peers occurs earlier for girls than for boys.

  • Alienation in the relation with parents in early adolescence predicts friendship quality in early adulthood.

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Data Availability

Data available on request from the authors. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants and scholarships received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC; grant #302665) and the Fonds Québécois de Recherche sur la Société et la Culture (FQSRC; grant #171323). This research was conducted at the University of Quebec at Montreal and Paris 8 University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université Paris 8, Laboratoire Paragraphe EA 349, 2 rue de la liberté, 93 526, Saint-Denis Cedex 02, France

    Raphaële Miljkovitch & Aino Sirparanta

  2. Université Paris Nanterre, LECD, 200 avenue de la République, 92001, Nanterre Cedex, France

    Pascal Mallet

  3. Département de Psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888 succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, QC, H3C 3P8, Canada

    Ellen Moss

  4. Département de psychoéducation Faculté d’éducation, Université de Sherbrooke Bureau A7-361, 2500, boul. de l’Université, Sherbrooke, QC, J1K 2R1, Canada

    Katherine Pascuzzo

  5. Département de psychoéducation et de psychologie, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Pavillon Alexandre-Taché, Bureau C-3710, 283, boulevard Alexandre-Taché, Gatineau, QC, J9A 1L8, Canada

    Magdalena A. Zdebik

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  1. Raphaële Miljkovitch
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Miljkovitch, R., Mallet, P., Moss, E. et al. Adolescents’ Attachment to Parents and Peers: Links to Young Adulthood Friendship Quality. J Child Fam Stud 30, 1441–1452 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-01962-y

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