Department of Human, Philosophic, and Education Sciences, University of Salerno, Postbox: Via Ponte Don Melillo, 84084 Fisciano, Salerno, Italy.
J Youth Adolesc. 2012 May;41(5):650-72. doi: 10.1007/s10964-012-9759-6. Epub 2012 Apr 3.
In adolescence, peers represent key actors within individual social network. Given the relevance of peer connections and the growing literature examining them, the purpose of this article was to review, through a meta-analytic approach, studies on adolescent and youth peer relationships within the theoretical framework of attachment. First, we synthesized results of 44 studies focused on relationships between parent and peer attachment. Second, we summarized findings of 54 studies reporting gender differences on peer attachment. Third, we computed an overall effect for age differences on peer attachment documented in 19 studies. Main findings highlighted that parent attachment is moderately correlated to peer attachment; that females were significantly more attached to their peers than males; and that the correlation between age and peer attachment was not significant. This set of findings was confirmed examining both overall peer attachment as well as specific dimensions of attachment, such as trust and communication. Furthermore, since a significant heterogeneity was found across studies, we tested the effects of various categorical (i.e., year and language of publication, country, attachment measure) and continuous (i.e., mean age and percentage of females of the sample, number of items of the peer attachment scale) moderators related to characteristics of the study samples and designs. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed. A focus on cultural dimensions and on peer attachment processes would be worthwhile to address relevant research questions: How do peer relationships progressively become mature attachment relationships? How is this process shaped for individuals with different parent attachment histories?
在青春期，同伴是个体社交网络中的关键角色。鉴于同伴关系的重要性以及越来越多的关于它们的研究文献，本文旨在通过元分析方法，在依恋理论框架内审查青少年和青年同伴关系的研究。首先，我们综合了 44 项关注父母和同伴依恋之间关系的研究结果。其次，我们总结了 54 项报告同伴依恋性别差异的研究结果。第三，我们计算了 19 项研究中记录的同伴依恋年龄差异的总效应。主要发现强调了父母依恋与同伴依恋中度相关；女性比男性更依恋同伴；年龄与同伴依恋之间的相关性不显著。通过检查同伴依恋的总体情况以及信任和沟通等特定依恋维度，证实了这组发现。此外，由于研究之间存在显著的异质性，我们测试了与研究样本和设计特征相关的各种分类（即出版年份和语言、国家、依恋测量）和连续（即平均年龄和样本中女性的百分比、同伴依恋量表的项目数）调节因素的效果。讨论了这些发现对未来研究的意义。关注文化维度和同伴依恋过程将有助于解决相关研究问题：同伴关系如何逐渐发展成为成熟的依恋关系？对于具有不同父母依恋史的个体，这个过程是如何形成的？
