Parent-Child Relationship and Attachment Security: Divorce as a Mediating Factor

Attachment is the bond that is formed linking a caregiver to children between birth and 2 years old and is a predictor for many future relationships. Attachment security is linked to later parent-child relationship quality. Divorce has been shown to affect children socially and they may experience difficulty in relating to others, but it is unclear how it continues to impact emerging adults and their relationships with their parents. The goal of this study was to better understand if attachment security was correlated to the quality of parent-child relationships among emerging adults and if parental divorce moderated this relationship. Our sample included emerging adults (N = 309) ages 18-30 years old. From our results, it was concluded that there was a significant positive relationship between the quality of the parent-child relationship and attachment security (r = 0.43, p= \u3c.001) among emerging adults. Divorce did not moderate the association (Fisher’s z = -0.14, p= 0.44). This study had a few limitations due to the limited sample size, and the snowball convenience data collection method that could make results less generalizable to the larger population. It is also not possible to make causal inferences due to the cross-sectional nature of the study. Despite the limitations, these findings could help set the foundation for which professionals and clinicians analyze and understand the influence of the quality of the parent-child relationship in emerging adulthood