Mother–child attachment and social anxiety symptoms in middle childhood

Abstract

Literature suggests that parent–child attachment and anxiety symptoms are related. One purpose of the present study was to assess whether attachment patterns relate differentially to social anxiety aspects (fear of negative evaluation, social anxiety and distress in new situations, and generalized anxiety and distress). The second purpose was to investigate these links both longitudinally and concurrently in middle childhood. Children ( N = 74) completed measures of secure, ambivalent, and avoidant attachments with mothers in grades 3 and 5 and a measure of social anxiety symptoms in grade 5. Longitudinal analyses showed that ambivalent attachment was most consistently related to social anxiety. Concurrent measures of attachment and social anxiety showed that lower attachment security and higher ambivalent attachment were most consistently related to higher social anxiety. Concurrent attachment predicted variance in social anxiety after controlling for earlier attachment. Findings suggest that anxiety interventions might target attachment.