Relationship between fivefold dimensions of attachment with internalizing disorders and externalizing disorders in adolescent girls

Abstract

This study is to investigate the relationship between fivefold dimensions of attachment, and internalizing and externalizing disorders among Tehran`s adolescent girls. The research is descriptive and is done based on correlation. The statistical society is all Tehran’s14–17 year-old girls in the academic year 1395,in which 115 girls were chosen based on availability sampling method. Data was collected by self-report inventory of child behavior checklist (YSR) of Achenbach and McConaughy (1991), and attachment styles questionnaire (ASQ) of Feeney and Noller (1994), and was analyzed by Pearson correlation and stepwise regression analysis. Results show that externalizing disorders have respectively negative and positive significant relationship with the dimensions of trust and need for approval, and internalizing disorders have significant positive relationship with need for approval dimension.The results of stepwise regression show that need for approval dimension is predictor of internalizing disorder, and trust and need for approval dimensions are predictors of externalizing disorders. This study illustrates the importance of need for approval dimension as a significant predictor for both internalizing and externalizing disorders in adolescent girls, and presents the pattern of low confidence and high need for approval to predict externalizing disorders in adolescent girls. So, training parents about needs of each stage of development is necessary and can influence attachment and mental health.

Keywords

• internalizing disorders
• externalizing disorders attachment
• adolescence