The Impact of Self-Reported Attachment Style on Aggression and Depressed Mood in Urban African American Adolescents.
McDade, Eddia Marie
2013
Abstract
In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that homicide is the leading cause of death for African American males between the ages of 10-24, an average of 60.7 deaths per 100,000 compared to 3.5 deaths per 100,000 for Caucasian males. This study examined the association between self-reported attachment style, aggression, and depressed mood in urban African American adolescents, and explored the extent to which age, gender, and the quality of the adolescents’ attachment relationships with parents and peers predicted aggression and depressed mood. The final study sample consisted of 136 male and female urban African American adolescents between the ages of 15-17 that, in classroom settings, responded to questionnaires measuring the quality of adolescents’ attachment relationships with parents and peers, aggression, anger expression, depressed mood, self-reported attachment style, and a brief demographics questionnaire. Correlational analyses showed significant negative correlations between parent attachment and aggression (r=-.42, n=136, p<0.01) and between parent attachment and depressed mood (r=-.38, n=136, p<0.01). Highly significant positive correlations were found between state anger and aggression (r=.63, n=136, p<0.01) and trait anger and aggression (r=.68, n=136, p<0.01). Significant positive correlations were also found between state anger and depressed mood (r=.52, n=136, p<0.01) and between trait anger and depressed mood (r=.43, n=136, p<0.01). Regarding the association between avoidant attachment style and the quality of parent and adolescent attachment, a significant negative correlation was found (r= -.23, n=136, p<0.01), while significant positive correlations were found between avoidant attachment and state anger (r= .36, n=136, p< 0.01) and avoidant attachment and trait anger (r=.23, n=136, p<0.01). Multiple regression analysis as depicted by Baron and Kenny showed that the quality of parent attachment and anger expression were mediators between avoidant attachment and aggression and between avoidant attachment and depressed mood. Study findings suggest the importance of evaluating urban African American youth for the quality of their relationships with their parents or primary care givers, anger, aggression, and depressed mood. Health care providers, educators, youth workers, juvenile justice systems, and residential treatment facilities are positioned to facilitate these evaluations and to arrange for appropriate interventions.Subjects
Aggression in African American Adolescents Anger in African American Adolescents Depression in African American Adolescents Attachment in African American Adolescents
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