Attachment, autonomic functioning, and adolescent loss

Losing a close relationship is consistently rated as one of life's most stressful events, and has been found to be among the most robust predictors of major depression in adolescence. Surprising, little work has examined who is most at risk for postloss depressive symptoms in adolescence. The current study examined how adolescents' attachment insecurity and autonomic nervous system functioning assessed at age 14 was prognostic of postloss depressive symptoms in late adolescence. Adolescents with greater attachment anxiety to their mother at age 14 reported higher levels of postloss depressive symptoms to a subsequent relationship loss between ages 16 and18 if they were also characterized by heightened activation of the sympathetic nervous system during experimentally-induced stress at age 14 (as assessed via skin conductance level). Adolescents who reported higher levels of attachment avoidance to their mother at age 14 reported higher levels of postloss depressive symptoms if they were characterized by low levels of parasympathetic nervous system activity during experimentally-induced stress at age 14 (as assessed via respiratory sinus arrhythmia or RSA). The findings suggest that the maladaptive effects of poor mother-child relationships (indexed by attachment insecurity) for postloss depressive symptoms may largely depend upon one's biological predispositions for self-regulation.