Attachment in adolescence: A narrative and meta-analytic review

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature that has examined adolescent attachment relations with parents, and any association between attachment and adolescent development or adjustment. The paper begins with a review of traditional attachment theory and concepts. The organizational perspective advanced by Sroufe and his colleagues is described in addition to other extensions of the study of attachment. The study of adolescent attachment is one extension of the attachment literature that has received increasing attention in recent years. A narrative review of studies of adolescent attachment is presented in which conceptualizations of adolescent attachment, methodologies, and results are described. The narrative review is followed by a metaanalytic review of this literature. The paper concludes by discussing the results of the reviews, the current state of adolescent attachment research, and some recommendations for further advancing the empirical and theoretical literature on adolescent attachment and adaptation.Received Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. This paper was completed while the author was a doctoral student at the University of Notre Dame. Major interests are in object relations theory and adolescent ego development. 511