Abstract
Throughout development, the conditions that elicit children’s support seeking behaviour change hand in hand with maturation and changing developmental tasks. Little is known about the situations in which adolescents need support or about which parental behaviours elicit adolescents’ sense of being supported. In the current study, adolescents living in the Netherlands (N = 98, Mage = 15.5, SD = 1.16, range = 14–18 years) filled in online questionnaires in which they were asked to recall autobiographical support-related memories (ASMs) separately for both parents. Support from both parents was most frequently needed in case of concerns about competence. Loss or illness of close others or pets elicited primarily a need for maternal support whereas family conflicts and practical problems most frequently elicited a need for paternal support. Additionally, parent behaviour reported in times of distress was most frequently related to comforting and facilitating support seeking. These behaivours were rated as satisfying and sufficiently supportive for the reported distress. These results confirm the importance of parental support in adolescence. Clinical implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.
Highlights
-
Although autonomy is the core developmental task in adolescents, they continue to need parental support during distress.
-
They need support when they fear that they are not academically or socially competent.
-
Mothers are the primarily desired support figure when loved ones and pets get ill or die.
-
Fathers are the primarily desired support figure when adolescents experience family conflict.
-
Adolescents mainly desire parental comfort during these stressors, a finding that is informative for family therapy.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ainsworth, M. S. (1989). Attachments beyond infancy. American Psychologist, 44(4), 709–716. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.44.4.709.
Allen, J. P., & Tan, J. (2016). The Multiple Facets of Attachment in Adolescence. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Applications (third edition). New York, NY, US: Guilford Press.
Andreano, J. M., & Cahill, L. (2009). Sex influences on the neurobiology of learning and memory. Learning & Memory, 16(4), 248–266. https://doi.org/10.1101/lm.918309.
Arbel, R., Perrone, L., & Margolin, G. (2016). Adolescents’ Daily Worries and Risky behaviours: The Buffering Role of Support Seeking. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2016.1169536.
Becker-Stoll, F., Fremmer-Bombik, E., Wartner, U., Zimmermann, P., & Grossmann, K. E. (2008). Is attachment at ages 1, 6 and 16 related to autonomy and relatedness behavior of adolescents in interaction towards their mothers? International Journal of Behavioral Development, 32, 372–380. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025408093654.
Bokhorst, C. L., Sumter, S. R., & Westenberg, P. M. (2010). Social Support from Parents, Friends, Classmates, and Teachers in Children and Adolescents Aged 9 to 18 Years: Who Is Perceived as Most Supportive? Social Development, 19(2), 417–426. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2009.00540.x.
Bosmans, G., Braet, C., Leeuwen, K. V., & Beyers, W. (2006). Do Parenting behaviours Predict Externalizing behaviour in Adolescence, or Is Attachment the Neglected 3rd Factor? Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35(3), 354–364. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-005-9026-1.
Bosmans, G., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., Vervliet, B., Verhees, M., & van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2020). A learning theory of attachment: Unraveling the black box of attachment development. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 113, 287–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.03.014.
Bosmans, G., Van Vlierberghe, L., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., Kobak, R., Hermans, D., & van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2022). A Learning Theory Approach to Attachment Theory: Exploring Clinical Applications. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 1–22.
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and Loss: Attachment. Hogarth P.
Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment: Second Edition. Basic Books.
Brown, S. L., Teufel, J. A., Birch, D. A., & Kancherla, V. (2006). Gender, age, and behaviour differences in early adolescent worry. Journal of School Health, 76(8), 430–437. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2006.00137.x.
Burke, R. J., & Weir, T. (1978). Sex Differences in Adolescent Life Stress, Social Support, and Well-Being. The Journal of Psychology, 98(2), 277–288. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.1978.9915972.
Currie, C., Zanotti, C., Morgan, A., Currie, D., de Looze, M., Roberts, C., Barnekow, V. (2012). Social determinants of health and well-being among young people: health behaviour in school-aged (HBSC) children: international report from the 2009/2010 survey. Copenhagen, Denmark: World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe. Retrieved from http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/163857/Social-determinants-of-health-and-well-being-among-young-people.pdf.
Crutcher, R. J. (1994). Telling what we know: The use of verbal report methodologies in psychological research. Psychological Science, 5, 241–241.
Diamond, G., Russon, J., & Levy, S. (2016). Attachment-based family therapy: A review of the empirical support. Family Process, 55(3), 595–610. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12241.
Doyle, A. B., Lawford, H., & Markiewicz, D. (2009). Attachment style with mother, father, best friend, and romantic partner during adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 19(4), 690–714. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2009.00617.x.
Dujardin, A., Bosmans, G., De Raedt, R., & Braet, C. (2015). Children’s attentional exploration of threatening information as related to trust in maternal support. Developmental Psychology, 51(10), 1341–1350. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039500.
Dujardin, A., Santens, T., Braet, C., De Raedt, R., Vos, P., Maes, B., & Bosmans, G. (2016). Middle childhood support-seeking behavior during stress: links with self-reported attachment and future depressive symptoms. Child Development, 87(1), 326–340. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12491.
Dykas, M. J., Woodhouse, S. S., Jones, J. D., & Cassidy, J. (2014). Attachment-related biases in adolescents’ memory. Child Development, 85(6), 2185–2201. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24696722
Fivush, R., Bohanek, J. G., Zaman, W., & Grapin, S. (2012). Gender differences in adolescents’ autobiographical narratives. Journal of Cognition and Development, 13(3), 295–319. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2011.590787.
Fraley, R. C., & Brumbaugh, C. (2007). Adult attachment and preemptive defenses: Converging evidence on the role of defensive exclusion at the level of encoding. Journal of Personality, 75, 1033–1050. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2007.00465.x.
Fraley, R. C., Garner, J. P., & Shaver, P. R. (2000). Adult attachment and the defensive regulation of attention and memory: Examining the role of preemptive and postemptive defensive processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 816–826. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.5.816.
Frey, C. U., & Röthlisberger, C. (1996). Social support in healthy adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 25(1), 17–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537378.
Gonzales, N. A., Wong, J. J., Toomey, R. B., Millsap, R., Dumka, L. E., & Mauricio, A. M. (2014). School Engagement Mediates Long-Term Prevention Effects for Mexican American Adolescents. Prevention Science, 15(6), 929–939. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-013-0454-y.
Haggerty, G., Siefert, C., & Weinberger, J. (2010). Examining the relationship between current attachment status and freely recalled autobiographical memories of child hood. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 27, 27–41. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018638.
Hayes, A. F., & Krippendorff, K. (2007). Answering the call for a standard reliability measure for coding data. Communication Methods and Measures, 1(1), 77–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/19312450709336664.
Inguglia, C., Ingoglia, S., Liga, F., Lo Coco, A., & Lo Cricchio, M. G. (2015). Autonomy and relatedness in adolescence and emerging adulthood: Relationships with parental support and psychological distress. Journal of Adult Development, 22(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-014-9196-8.
Keown, L. J., & Palmer, M. (2014). Comparisons between paternal and maternal involvement with sons: early to middle childhood. Early Child Development and Care, 184(1), 99–117. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2013.773510.
Kerns, K. A., Mathews, B. L., Koehn, A. J., Williams, C. T., & Siener-Ciesla, S. (2015). Assessing both safe haven and secure base support in parent – Child relationships. Attachment & Human Development, 17, 337–353. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2015.1042487.
Kobak, R., Rosenthal, N. L., Zajac, K. & Madsen, S. D. (2007). Adolescent attachment hierarchies and the search for an adult pair-bond. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2007(117), 57–72. https://doi.org/10.1002/cd.194.
Krippendorff, K. (2004). Reliability in content analysis.: Some common misconceptions and recommendations. Human Communication Research, 30(3), 411–433. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2004.tb00738.x.
Laugesen, N., Dugas, M. J., & Bukowski, W. M. (2003). Understanding Adolescent Worry: The application of a cognitive model. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 31, 55–64. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021721332181.
Levant, R. F., Hall, R. J., Williams, C. M., & Hasan, N. T. (2009). Gender differences in alexithymia. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 10(3), 190–203. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015652.
Mayseless, O. (2005). Ontogeny of attachment in middle childhood: Conceptualization of normative changes. In K. A. Kerns & R. A. Richardson (Eds.), Attachment in middle childhood (1st ed., pp. 1–23). New York, NY, US: The Guilford Press.
McElhaney, K. B., Allen, J. P., Stephenson, J. C., & Hare, A. L. (2009). Attachment and Autonomy During Adolescence. In Handbook of Adolescent Psychology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470479193.adlpsy001012.
Miranda, M. C., Affuso, G., Esposito, C., & Bacchini, D. (2016). Parental acceptance–rejection and adolescent maladjustment: Mothers’ and Fathers’ combined roles. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25(4), 1352–1362. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-015-0305-5.
Nickerson, A. B., & Nagle, R. J. (2005). Parent and peer attachment in late childhood and early adolescence. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 25(2), 223–249. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431604274174.
Olsson, I., Hagekull, B., Giannotta, F., & Åhlander, C. (2016). Adolescents and social support situations. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 57(3), 223–232. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12282.
Rowe, S. L., Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., & Hood, M. (2016). Community, family, and individual factors associated with adolescents’ Vulnerability, daily stress, and well-being Following Family Separation. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 57(2), 87–111. https://doi.org/10.1080/10502556.2015.1127875.
Ruhl, H., Dolan, E. A., & Buhrmester, D. (2015). Adolescent attachment trajectories with mothers and fathers: The importance of parent-child relationship experiences and gender. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 25(3), 427–442. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12144.
Ruiz-Ortiz, R., Braza, P., Carreras, R., & Muñoz, J. (2017). Differential effects of mother’s and father’s parenting on prosocial and antisocial behavior: Child sex moderating. Journal of Child & Family Studies, 26(8), 2182–2190.
Shadish, W. R., Cook, T. D., & Campbell, D. T. (2002). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalizedcausal inference. Houghton Mifflin.
Sroufe, L. A. (2005). Attachment and development: A prospective, longitudinal study from birth to adulthood. Attachment & Human Development, 7(4), 349–367. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616730500365928.
Steinberg, L. (1990). Interdependency in the family: Autonomy, conflict, and harmony in the parent-adolescent relationship. In At the Treshold: The Developing Adolescent (pp. 255–276). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Steinberg, L., & Silk, J. S. (2002). Parenting adolescents. In M. H. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of Parenting: Volume I: Children and Parenting. Mah Way, New Jersey: Psychology Press.
Taylor, S. E., Klein, L. C., Lewis, B. P., Gruenewald, T. L., Gurung, R. A., & Updegraff, J. A. (2000). Bio behavioral responses to stress in females: Tend-and-befriend, not fight-or- flight. Psychological Review, 107, 411–429. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.107.3.411.
Vandevivere, E., Braet, C., & Bosmans, G. (2015). Under which conditions do early adolescents need maternal support? The Journal of Early Adolescence, 35(2), 162–169. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431614529364.
Verhees, M., Ceulemans, E., Finet, C., van IJzendoorn, M. H., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & Bosmans, G. (2022). Exploring everyday state attachment dynamics in middle childhood. Development and Psychopathology, 1–10. Advance online publication. Online ahead of print.
Waters, H. S., & Waters, E. (2006). The attachment working models concept: Among other things, we build script-like representations of secure base experiences. Attachment & Human Development, 8(3), 185–197. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616730600856016.
Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., & Skinner, E. A. (2011). Review: The development of coping across childhood and adolescence: An integrative review and critique of research. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 35(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025410384923.
Zontini, E. (2007). Continuity and change in transnational Italian families: The caring practices of second-generation women. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 33(7), 1103–1119. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691830701541622.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Informed Consent
All participants gave their informed consent.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
de Jonge, Y.B., Nauta, M.H. & Bosmans, G. In Which Situations Do Adolescents Seek Parental Support and What Do They Need?. J Child Fam Stud 31, 2849–2859 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-022-02280-7
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-022-02280-7