The Associations Between Attachment, Thought-Action Fusion, and Anxiety in Adolescents: Mediator Effect of Thought-Action Fusion.

BACKGROUND

This study examined the relationship between attachment quality, thought-action fusion (TAF), and the anxiety levels and mediator effect of TAF-likelihood-self in this relationship in adolescents.

METHODS

The participants consisted of 637 adolescents aged 12-17 (61.3% female,  = 391; 38.7% male,  = 246) obtained from 2 secondary schools in Istanbul. TAF was screened with Thought-Action Fusion-Child Version (TAFIC), and anxiety was assessed with the Trait Anxiety subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC). The short form of The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment-short version (s-IPPA) was used to determine the attachment quality of adolescents.

RESULTS

Higher levels of TAF and lower levels of maternal attachment (MA) and paternal attachment (PA) quality were associated with higher levels of trait anxiety. In addition to this, TAF-likelihood-self had partial mediator role between attachment levels and anxiety symptoms.

CONCLUSION

The results of the present study suggested that low attachment quality can be a risk factor in terms of higher anxiety levels, and TAF problems may have an increasing effect on this association. It can be suggested that, in the clinical or academic field, interventions focusing on the differentiation between the thought and action may be beneficial in anxious adolescents with attachment problems.