Attachment Relationships and Adolescent Psychological Health: The Influence of Romantic Relationships

Research demonstrates that attachment relationships play important roles in adolescent psychological health. The influence of romantic relationships on adjustment is less clear. Using a cross-sectional sample of 515 adolescents, the current study examines whether romantic relationships replace the influence of other attachment relationships on adolescent psychological health. Regression analyses revealed that romantic relationships did not significantly impact on the influence of other attachment relationships when predicting depression but did significantly decrease the influence of peer attachment for selfesteem. It is concluded that romantic relationships during adolescence do not have major direct effects on adjustment and have only a minor influence on existing attachment relationships in predicting psychological health. Findings are discussed in the light of the continuity model of interpersonal relationships. Although a topic of considerable interest in popular culture, the study of adolescent romantic relationships from a psychological perspective has been relatively neglected. While the relative importance of parental attachment, peer attachment and close friendship in the prediction of adolescent psychological health have been the subject of debate (Wilkinson, 2004a), relatively few researchers have investigated adolescent romantic relationships in the context of existing attachment relationships. It has been argued that adolescent romantic relationships represent one of the most important developmental tasks of adolescence (Furman & Wehner, 1997). However, it is not clearly understood what influence adolescent romantic relationships have on other attachment relationships or on psychological health. During late adolescence close dyadic relationships such as intimate friendships and romantic relationships develop. Research has suggested that these close intimate bonds share many features with attachment relationships. Ainsworth (1989) argued that under certain circumstances these intimate relationships may be classified as attachments. In one of the few studies in the area, Buhrmester (1990) found that the intimacy of friendships was consistently related to adjustment and interpersonal competence during adolescence and that adolescents who characterised their intimate friendships as compassionate, disclosing, and satisfying reported less depression and higher levels of self-esteem. Researchers have argued that romantic relationships are a key developmental task and the failure to establish a romantic relationship during adolescence is thought to have adverse consequences for the individual (Collins, 2003). These relationships are unlike adult romantic relationships, however, in that they tend to be short-term and do not involve the same level of commitment, exclusivity, attachment and care-giving (Brown, Feiring, & Furman, 1999). While the adult romantic relationship literature has found that long-term romantic relationships are associated with stability, security and relationship satisfaction (Feeney, 1999), it is unclear whether long-term romantic relationships in adolescents are associated with such positive outcomes (Overbeek, Vollebergh, Engels, & Meeus, 2001).