Attachment in Adolescence: Reflections and New Angles New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, Number 117 J–B CAD Single Issue Child & Adolescent Development Series

In recent years, the number of empirical studies examining attachment in adolescence has grown considerably, with most focusing on individual difference in attachment security. This volume goes a step further in extending knowledge and understanding. The physical, cognitive, emotional, and social changes that characterize adolescence invite a closer conceptual look at attachment processes and organization during this period. The chapter authors, leading researchers in attachment in adolescence, address key topics in attachment process in adolescence. These include issues such as the normative distancing from parents and the growing importance of peers, the formation of varied attachment hierarchies, the changing nature of attachment dynamics from issues of survival to issues of affect regulation, siblings′ similarity in attachment representations, individual differences in social information processes in adolescence, and stability and change in attachment representations in a risk sample. Together the chapters provide a compelling discussion of intriguing issues and broaden our understanding of attachment in adolescence and the basic tenets of attachment theory at large.

This is the 117th issue of the Jossey Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development.

1. Putting Eggs in More Than One Basket: A New Look at Developmental Processes of Attachment in Adolescence 1
Miri Scharf, Ofra Mayseless
This chapter discusses the developmental tasks of adolescence with regard to attachment, in particular, the weakening of emotional investment in relationships with parents, and diversification of emotional investments.

2. From Safety to Affect Regulation: Attachment from the Vantage Point of Adolescence 23
Joseph P. Allen, Nell Manning
Attachment in adolescence is examined in relation to its evolution into a broader system of social affect regulation.

3. Attachment and the Processing of Social Information in Adolescence 41
Matthew J. Dykas, Jude Cassidy
This chapter discusses theory and research about links between attachment and adolescents processing of attachment–relevant social information.

4. Adolescent Attachment Hierarchies and the Search for an Adult Pair–Bond 57
Roger Kobak, Natalie L. Rosenthal, Kristyn Zajac, Stephanie D. Madsen
Bowlby′s concept of an attachment hierarchy provides a conceptual framework for investigating developmental transformations in adolescents′ relationships with caregivers and peers.

5. Representations of Attachment to Parents in Adolescent Sibling Pairs: Concordant or Discordant? 73
Lisa Kiang, Wyndol Furman
The authors review theoretical and empirical work regarding concordance of adolescent siblings attachment representations to parents.

6. Adolescent Attachment Representations and Development in a Risk Sample 91
Jill Carlivati, W. Andrew Collins
Contextual and interpersonal conditions complicate the search for continuity in adolescent attachment representations over time.

INDEX 107