1. Primary Attachment to Parents and Peers During Adolescence: Differences by Attachment Style by Harry Freeman and B. Bradford Brown Presented by: Teneshia Arnold

2. Overview Children, adolescents, and adults benefit greatly from having a primary attachment figure to count on despite the level of difficulty of a situation in one’s life. Mothers typically fulfill the role of primary attachment figure during childhood, but what about during adolescence?

3. Purpose of the Study To examine the extent in which boy/girlfriends, peers, mothers, and fathers serve as attachment figures in late adolescence To examine whether attachment preference for parent or peer is associated with attachment style

4. Important Terms Secure attachment- Infants use caregivers as a secure base from which to explore the environment. Insecure attachment- Infants either avoid the caregiver or show considerable resistance toward the caregiver. 2 forms of Insecure Attachment 1. Dismissing attachment- Individuals deemphasize the importance of attachment. 2. Preoccupied attachment- Individuals are hyper attuned to attachment experiences.

5. Participants 47 Male, 52 Female High School Juniors and Seniors 16-18 years of age 85 %= European American, 6%= African American, 4%= Asian, 2%= Hispanic 64 respondents from never-divorced households, 18 respondents from single-parent households, 17 respondents from stepparent households

6. Findings Secure adolescents rate parents, especially mothers, higher than peers as a source of attachment 24 secure adolescents with boy/girlfriends revealed no differences in support ratings between mothers, fathers, best friends Insecure adolescents described peers as stronger sources of attachment support than parents.

7. Findings (cont.) Insecure adolescents indicated that boy/girlfriends were considered the primary source of attachment, best friends secondary, mothers third, and fathers the least relied upon figure. Fathers appeared at the bottom of the attachment hierarchy amongst attachment groups.

8. Conclusion Adolescents have a primary attachment to a parent, primary attachment to a peer, and distributed attachments across parents and peers. Santrock (2012) mentions that as adolescents mature, they will detach from their parents & move into the world apart from parents. However, parents still serve as important attachment figures, resources, & support system (p. 268).

9. Limitations Data was conducted from a homogenous sample. The time constraints placed on interviews and coding limited the number of possible participants. Longitudinal data needed to track the process of parental support during middle adolescence to young adulthood.

10. Questions???