Peer-reviewed article
Adolescents' Attachment-Related Insecurity with Custodial Grandmothers: Relations to Their Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms.
Spinrad TL, Eisenberg N, Smith GC, Dolbin-MacNab ML, Infurna FJ et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how adolescents living with custodial grandmothers experience attachment insecurity and how this relates to their emotional and behavioral problems. The researchers followed 348 adolescents aged 11-18 over 9 months, measuring their relationship quality with their grandmother and symptoms of anxiety, depression, and behavioral difficulties. Adolescents with insecure attachments to their custodial grandmothers showed higher levels of both internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and this insecurity predicted worsening symptoms over time. The findings suggest that supporting the quality of relationships between grandchildren and their custodial grandmothers is important for improving adolescent mental health and wellbeing.
Key points
- General attachment insecurity with custodial grandmothers predicted higher internalizing and externalizing symptoms at the same time point
- Attachment insecurity at baseline predicted higher externalizing and internalizing symptoms 9 months later
- The relationship between insecurity and externalizing symptoms was stronger for adolescents in longer-term custodial care
- Internalizing symptoms at baseline also predicted increased attachment insecurity 9 months later, suggesting bidirectional relationships
- Sample included 348 adolescents aged 11-18 years living in custodial grandparent arrangements
Limitations
The document does not specify which country or countries the study was conducted in, limiting generalizability assessment. The study relies on adolescent self-report only and does not include the grandmother's perspective or direct observational measures of attachment quality.
Abstract
Objective The primary goals of the present study were to (a) differentiate types of adolescents' attachment-related insecurity with their custodial grandmothers, and (b) examine associations, including bidirectional relations, between grandchildren's attachment insecurity and their maladjustment symptoms 9 months later. Background There is limited research on attachment-related insecurity for adolescents in the care of custodial grandparents-a group that may be at heightened risk for insecure relationships and poor adjustment symptoms. Methods Adolescent grandchildren (n = 348; aged 11 to 18 years, 39.7% male) reported on the quality of their relationship with their custodial grandmother and their internalizing and externalizing symptoms at T1 and T2 (9 months later). Bifactor analyses were used to compute orthogonal indices of attachment-related general insecurity, anxious-ambivalence, and avoidance. Results Within time, general insecurity predicted higher internalizing and externalizing symptoms. T1 general insecurity longitudinally predicted higher T2 externalizing and internalizing symptoms, with relations for externalizing symptoms moderated by length of care. Interestingly, T1 internalizing symptoms positively predicted T2 general insecurity. Conclusions Consistent with attachment theory and prior research on parent-child relationships, grandchildren's relationship quality with their custodial grandmother predicted later maladjustment symptoms. Implications Findings highlight the importance of attending to grandchildren's attachment-related insecurity in providing supportive services and resources to custodial grandfamilies.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- None - this is an observational longitudinal study examining natural variation in attachment relationship quality
- Population
- 348 adolescents aged 11-18 years (39.7% male) living with custodial grandmothers
Key finding
General attachment insecurity at T1 predicted higher externalizing symptoms at T2, with this relationship moderated by length of custodial care