Attachment Styles in Adult Children of Mentally Ill Parents

This paper presents the results of an online survey in Germany in which 296 adult children of mentally ill parents were interviewed. The aim of the study was to record the respondents' attachment-related experiences and to investigate possible predictors of reported childhood experiences on adult attachment patterns. The German version of the revised Adult Attachment Scales (AAS-R) was used to record basic adult attachment dimensions. Data analysis yielded lower values in the dimension "intimacy/trust" compared to the general population, whereas very high values were found in the dimension "anxiety". A clinical relevant anxious-avoiding attachment style could be assigned to 39% of the respondents. In regression analyses, the safety experienced in childhood, communication deficits in the family and stigmatisation experiences proved to be significant predictors of adult attachment styles. In the concluding discussion of the research findings, we consider possible help offers for adult children of mentally ill parents.