Aggressiveness in Adopted and Non-Adopted Teens: The Role of Parenting, Attachment Security, and Gender

Miriam Gallarin, Barbara Torres-Gomez and Itziar Alonso-Arbiol
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Miriam Gallarin: Faculty of Psychology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
Barbara Torres-Gomez: Faculty of Psychology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
Itziar Alonso-Arbiol: Faculty of Psychology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship among aggressiveness, parenting practices, and attachment security in adolescents, assessing maternal and paternal effects separately. Two different subsamples of adolescents between 12 and 16 years old participated in the study ( n = 157): 67 adopted adolescents (61.2% girls) and 90 non-adopted adolescents (56.7% girls). Partial and full mediation models were analyzed in multi-group structural equation models (using maximum likelihood estimates), allocating non-adoptive and adoptive adolescents into two different groups. Results showed that whereas acceptance/involvement of each parent predicted attachment security towards the corresponding parental figure, only the father’s coercion/imposition predicted aggressiveness, and only attachment security to the mother was a (negative) predictor of adolescent’s aggressiveness. The partial mediation model provided the most parsimonious explanation for the data, showing no differences between adopted and non-adopted subsamples and supporting a good model fit for both boys and girls in a multi-group invariance analysis. The implications of these results are discussed in light of the protective effects of care relationships in early adolescence (vs. late adolescence) as well as the differential role of parent figures.

Keywords: aggressiveness; attachment; parenting practices; adoption; early adolescence; gender (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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