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Show COLLEGE OF SOCIAL & BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ABSTRACTS Amy Jones Marissa Diener IS THE FATHER ADOLESCENT RELATIONSHIP ASSOCIATED WITH ADOLESCENTS' Amy Jones (Marissa Diener) Department of Family and Consumer Studies University of Utah Relationships with mothers and fathers are important for their children's development. The present study examined three models of h o w attachment security with mothers and fathers relates to adolescents' outcomes. The hierarchy model suggests that attachment to mothers influences attachment to fathers. The independent model proposes that both parental attachment relationships are important and that attachment to mothers and fathers affect different areas of a child's development. The integrative model claims that the combined effects of attachment security to mothers and fathers are important to children's development. W e hypothesized that w e would find the most support for the integrative model. Fifty-two adolescents and their parents completed measures of attachment security, attachment insecurity, and adolescent competence. In support of the hierarchy model, teens w h o were more securely attached with mothers were also more securely attached with fathers. Teens w h o reported secure attachments to both parents had higher parent-reported competence ratings than teens w h o reported secure attachment to only one parent or insecure attachments to both parents, supporting the integrative model. Also in support of the integrative model, attachment security with fathers predicted competence above and beyond attachment security with mothers, showing that both relationships were important. Knowing about both relationships predicted competence better than knowing about only one. As far as youth self-perceived competence, w e found that teens' competence ratings were dependent on their attachment security with fathers, but their attachment to mothers did not predict self-perceived competence. This finding provides support for the independent model, because it appears that father's attachment was a significant predictor of adolescents'own views of their competence, but not parent-reports of competence. In other words, the father-adolescent relationship cannot be dismissed, regardless of attachment with mothers; fathers are important. |