Attachment and behavioral problems in pre-adolescents

Attachment is one of the most researched topics in the field of developmental psychology. More and more scientific studies are appearing on the quality of a child's attachment relationship with their mother and the repercussions of this bond on the child's cognitive, emotional and social development. Most of the results show that an insecure attachment relationship is one of the main risk factors for the development of disruptive behaviour in the childhood environment (internalization/externalization). Throughout this book, we will look at attachment theory, the development of the initial mother-baby relationship and the emergence of behavioral problems in the early childhood environment. Using the Skills and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the Inventory of Attachment to Parents and Peers (IPPA), we investigated the attachment relationship with parents and the behavioral problems reported by both. The participants were 258 Portuguese children aged between 9 and 12 (M = 10.34; SD = 0.88). The results show that a secure attachment relationship with parents correlates negatively with the behavior problems reported by the children.