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Insecure Attachment and Psychological Distress in Early Adolescence: Loneliness as a Mediator.

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Title: Insecure Attachment and Psychological Distress in Early Adolescence: Loneliness as a Mediator.
Authors: Li, Chih-Ling, Wu, Pei-Chen
Source: Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy. 2026, Vol. 40 Issue 1, p7-23. 17p.
Subjects: Self-evaluation, High schools, Psychological distress, Attachment behavior, Parent-child relationships, Affinity groups, Questionnaires, High school students, Anxiety, Loneliness, Father-child relationship, Structural equation modeling, Mentoring, Families, Parenting, Psychological well-being, Adolescent psychology, Mother-child relationship, Child psychology, Confidence intervals, Mental depression, Reactive attachment disorder, Adolescence, Children
Geographic Terms: Taiwan
Abstract: The existing research on attachment has been predominantly limited to Western adult populations and parental attachment relationships, leaving significant gaps in our understanding of adolescent development. The present study addresses these limitations by investigating how insecure attachment to mothers, fathers, and peers is associated with psychological distress in early adolescence (grades 7–9), with particular attention to the mediating role of loneliness. This developmental period represents a critical window for intervention, as patterns of social–emotional adjustment established during early adolescence often persist into adulthood. Our sample comprised 813 junior high school students who completed 3 well-validated self-report measures: the Relationships Structures Questionnaire assessing attachment patterns; the University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale measuring subjective social isolation; and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 evaluating psychological distress. Using structural equation modeling, we tested three mediation models to examine both direct and indirect pathways from insecure attachment to psychological distress through loneliness. The results revealed several important patterns: First, we observed moderate positive correlations between anxious and avoidant attachment styles (r =.38–.44), suggesting that these insecure attachment patterns frequently co-occur. Second, structural models demonstrated significant total effects of insecure attachment on psychological distress across most relationship figures, with the notable exception of avoidant peer attachment. Third, while both anxious and avoidant attachment positively predicted psychological distress, avoidant peer attachment exhibited a negative association with distress symptoms. Fourth, and most crucially, loneliness emerged as a significant mediator in all models, explaining substantial portions of the attachment–distress relationship. Gender, attachment style, and loneliness together explained 36%–38% of the variance in distress. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, they extend attachment research beyond its traditional focus on parental relationships by demonstrating the unique and combined influences of multiple attachment figures during early adolescence. Practically, the robust mediating role of loneliness suggests that interventions targeting both attachment security and social connection may be particularly effective for reducing adolescent distress. We recommend that family education programs incorporate attachment-informed parenting strategies while school counseling interventions address peer relationships and loneliness directly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy is the property of Springer Publishing Company, Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
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  Data: Insecure Attachment and Psychological Distress in Early Adolescence: Loneliness as a Mediator.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Li%2C+Chih-Ling%22">Li, Chih-Ling</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Wu%2C+Pei-Chen%22">Wu, Pei-Chen</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+Cognitive+Psychotherapy%22">Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy</searchLink>. 2026, Vol. 40 Issue 1, p7-23. 17p.
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  Data: The existing research on attachment has been predominantly limited to Western adult populations and parental attachment relationships, leaving significant gaps in our understanding of adolescent development. The present study addresses these limitations by investigating how insecure attachment to mothers, fathers, and peers is associated with psychological distress in early adolescence (grades 7–9), with particular attention to the mediating role of loneliness. This developmental period represents a critical window for intervention, as patterns of social–emotional adjustment established during early adolescence often persist into adulthood. Our sample comprised 813 junior high school students who completed 3 well-validated self-report measures: the Relationships Structures Questionnaire assessing attachment patterns; the University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale measuring subjective social isolation; and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 evaluating psychological distress. Using structural equation modeling, we tested three mediation models to examine both direct and indirect pathways from insecure attachment to psychological distress through loneliness. The results revealed several important patterns: First, we observed moderate positive correlations between anxious and avoidant attachment styles (r =.38–.44), suggesting that these insecure attachment patterns frequently co-occur. Second, structural models demonstrated significant total effects of insecure attachment on psychological distress across most relationship figures, with the notable exception of avoidant peer attachment. Third, while both anxious and avoidant attachment positively predicted psychological distress, avoidant peer attachment exhibited a negative association with distress symptoms. Fourth, and most crucially, loneliness emerged as a significant mediator in all models, explaining substantial portions of the attachment–distress relationship. Gender, attachment style, and loneliness together explained 36%–38% of the variance in distress. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, they extend attachment research beyond its traditional focus on parental relationships by demonstrating the unique and combined influences of multiple attachment figures during early adolescence. Practically, the robust mediating role of loneliness suggests that interventions targeting both attachment security and social connection may be particularly effective for reducing adolescent distress. We recommend that family education programs incorporate attachment-informed parenting strategies while school counseling interventions address peer relationships and loneliness directly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy is the property of Springer Publishing Company, Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=pbh&AN=191841558
RecordInfo BibRecord:
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    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1891/JCP-2025-0001
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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      Pagination:
        PageCount: 17
        StartPage: 7
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Self-evaluation
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: High schools
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Psychological distress
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Attachment behavior
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Parent-child relationships
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      – SubjectFull: Affinity groups
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Questionnaires
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: High school students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Anxiety
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Loneliness
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Father-child relationship
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Structural equation modeling
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Mentoring
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      – SubjectFull: Families
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      – SubjectFull: Parenting
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      – SubjectFull: Psychological well-being
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      – SubjectFull: Adolescent psychology
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      – SubjectFull: Mother-child relationship
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Child psychology
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Confidence intervals
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Mental depression
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Reactive attachment disorder
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Adolescence
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Children
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Taiwan
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Insecure Attachment and Psychological Distress in Early Adolescence: Loneliness as a Mediator.
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            NameFull: Li, Chih-Ling
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            NameFull: Wu, Pei-Chen
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              Text: 2026
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
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