Profiles of Parent-Child Attachment and Peer Attachment among Adolescents and Associations with Internalizing Problems

Objectives: Attachment is a profound and enduring connection to the emotion children progressively form with their parents as they mature. It significantly impacts the social and psychological development of kids and teenagers. This study aimed to explore the latent profiles and longitudinal transition patterns of parent-child and peer attachments among adolescents. Methods: A cohort of 914 participants from China completed the measures with a twelve-month interval. There were 46.8% boys and 53.2% girls in this survey. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was adopted to explore the distinct profiles reflecting different parent-child and peer attachment response patterns at each time point. Latent transition analysis (LTA) was used to examine the membership of distinct latent profiles and how individuals move between profiles over time. Results: Three latent profiles were found: the poor parent-child communication profile, the moderate attachment profile, and the good attachment profile. It was shown that the transition probability from the poor parent-child communication and good attachment profiles to the moderate attachment profile was higher than the transition probability between the poor parent-child communication and good attachment profiles. Patterns of parent-child and peer attachments were associated with depression and anxiety. Conclusion: This study demonstrates differences in adolescents' attachment to fathers, mothers, and peers and the need for targeted interventions for groups of adolescents with moderate levels of parent-child and peer attachment.