Abstract

MOURA, Octávio  and  MATOS, Paula Mena. Parental attachment, divorce and interparental conflict in adolescents. Psicologia [online]. 2008, vol.22, n.1, pp.127-152. ISSN 0874-2049.

This study intends to identify variations in quality of adolescents’ attachment to parents as a function of family structure (intact and divorced families) and interparental conflict. Furthermore, differences according to adolescent’s and parent’s gender were also analysed. The sample consists of 310 adolescents, 14 to 18 aged from both genders. Participants responded to the Father/Mother Attachment Questionnaire (Matos & Costa, 2001, revised version) and the Children’s Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale (Grych, Seid & Fincham, 1992). Both instruments present adequate psychometrics qualities, tested by confirmatory factor analyses and internal reliability. Results indicated that divorce affects more the quality of attachment to father, while interparental conflict is the variable that predicted more the quality of attachment to parents, affecting the quality of emotional bond to both parents independently of family structure.

Keywords : attachment; interparental conflict; divorce; adolescence.

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