Yarger Heather A, Straske Davis, Fitter Megan, Cassidy Jude, Redcay Elizabeth
Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, USA.
Attach Hum Dev. 2025 Aug;27(4):539-566. doi: 10.1080/14616734.2025.2530933. Epub 2025 Jul 15.
Attachment theory has demonstrated the longitudinal impact that aspects of the parent-child dyad have on youth's social-emotional development. Yet, little to no work has investigated whether parents' attachment, including parental secure base script (SBS) knowledge and parental attachment styles, are associated with youth's social-emotional functioning or examined mechanisms by which parents' attachment leads to social-emotional functioning. Even less research has examined the role of parents' attachment in parent-child dyads with youth diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; further identified as autistic youth) and its impact on their subsequent social-emotional development. Thus, the current pre-registered study assessed whether parents' attachment was associated with children's maladaptive (internalizing/externalizing symptoms) and adaptive (social competence) social-emotional functioning via parenting quality (authoritative parenting) in 108 nonautistic parent-child dyads and 49 autistic parent-child dyads. Separate structural equation models were run by group. Higher levels of parents' SBS knowledge predicted social competence in autistic parent-child dyads. Additionally, higher levels of parents' predicted lower levels of social competence in autistic parent-child dyads. predicted lower levels of social competence in nonautistic parent-child dyads and higher levels of externalizing symptoms in autistic parent-child dyads. Results suggest parents' attachment representations may have unique contributions to youth's social-emotional functioning.
依恋理论已经证明了亲子二元关系的各个方面对青少年社会情感发展的纵向影响。然而，几乎没有研究调查过父母的依恋，包括父母的安全基地脚本（SBS）知识和父母的依恋风格，是否与青少年的社会情感功能相关，或者检验父母的依恋导致社会情感功能的机制。更少的研究考察了父母的依恋在被诊断为自闭症谱系障碍（ASD；进一步确定为自闭症青少年）的亲子二元关系中的作用及其对他们随后社会情感发展的影响。因此，当前这项预先注册的研究评估了在108对非自闭症亲子二元关系和49对自闭症亲子二元关系中，父母的依恋是否通过养育质量（权威型养育）与孩子的适应不良（内化/外化症状）和适应性（社会能力）社会情感功能相关。按组运行了单独的结构方程模型。父母更高水平的SBS知识预示着自闭症亲子二元关系中的社会能力。此外，父母更高水平的 预示着自闭症亲子二元关系中社会能力水平较低。 预示着非自闭症亲子二元关系中社会能力水平较低，以及自闭症亲子二元关系中外化症状水平较高。结果表明，父母的依恋表征可能对青少年的社会情感功能有独特的贡献。
