Links between attachment to parents and internalizing problems in adolescence: The mediating role of adolescents’ personality

The study examined concurrent relations between attachment to parents, Five-Factor Model personality traits, and internalizing problems in adolescence. The sample included 968 Croatian high school students (Mage = 15.16; 50.6% males). The results showed that both adolescent-mother and adolescent-father attachment related more strongly to adolescents’ depression than anxiety. There were no differences in the strength of associations between maternal versus paternal attachment and either depression or anxiety. Adolescents’ gender moderated the relation between attachment to father and depression, with stronger association found for girls than boys. Links between adolescent-mother and adolescent-father attachment and adolescents’ depression and anxiety were partially mediated by adolescents’ neuroticism and agreeableness. In addition, links between adolescent-mother and adolescent-father attachment and adolescents’ anxiety were partially mediated by adolescents’ openness to experience. The findings suggest that interventions focused on the quality of attachment to both parents and positive personality development may contribute to decreasing internalizing problems in adolescence.