therelationshipbetweenattachmentandexternalizing.docVIP

The Relationship Between Attachment and Externalizing Behaviors in Normative versus High-Risk Samples Emilie A. Paczkowski Distinguished Majors Program University of Virginia Advisor: N. Dickon Reppucci Second Reader: Joseph P. Allen Running head: ATTACHMENT AND EXTERNALIZING BEHAVIORS Abstract This study examined how gender and sample type affect associations between attachment and externalizing behaviors. Normative participants (87 male and 98 female; mean age 14.25) and high-risk participants (166 male and 105 female; mean age 14.34) completed the Adolescent Attachment Interview and Family Attachment Interview, respectively. The Youth Self-Report (YSR) measured externalizing behaviors. Insecure attachment styles and externalizing behaviors were more common among high-risk participants, but no gender differences were found on these measures. Secure participants exhibited lower externalizing behaviors overall and within both males and females. Confirmatory factor analytic techniques provided support for measurement invariance across normative and high-risk samples on YSR externalizing subscales. While no relationship was found between attachment security and externalizing behavior in the high risk sample of youth, structural modeling techniques indicated the presence of this relationship within the normative sample. The Relationship Between Attachment and Externalizing Behaviors in Normative versus High-Risk Samples Externalizing behavior problems are the single most common reason for which young children are referred for psychological treatment (Richman, 1985). Severe externalizing behaviors, such as aggression and attention problems that arise in early childhood are likely to endure into later childhood and adolescence (Campbell, 1995). Additionally, many youths become involved in some type of delinquent externalizing behavior over the course of adolescence (Moffitt, 1993) at great cost to the individuals involved, as well