https://doi.org/10.4081/ripppo.2024.745

Childhood emotional maltreatment and internalizing problems in a non-clinical sample of adolescents: a moderated-mediation model of insecure anxious attachment style and gender

Online Advance Publication
Submitted: December 21, 2023
Accepted: May 28, 2024
Published: June 24, 2024
Emotional maltreatment, anxious attachment, internalizing problems, adolescents, gender
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Authors

Giorgio Falgares
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4387-7393
Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, Italy.
Giulia Costanzo
giulia.costanzo01@unipa.it
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2202-820X
Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, Italy.
Giovanna Manna
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9396-9870
Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, Italy.
Dorian A. Lamis
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5405-0239
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States.

Childhood emotional maltreatment (abuse and neglect) may contribute to the development of internalizing problems in adolescence. However, the mechanisms explaining this association should be examined further. This study explored the mediating role of insecure anxious attachment style in the relationship between emotional maltreatment and internalizing symptoms in a non-clinical sample of adolescents. Analyses were also conducted to determine whether gender moderated the direct and indirect pathways between emotional maltreatment and internalizing problems. We recruited 449 adolescents aged between 14 and 18 years old [(Mage)=16.46, standard deviation (SD)=1.38]. 60.8% of adolescents were female (Mage=16.51, SD=1.43), whereas 39.2% identified as male (Mage=16.39, SD=1.28). Participants completed a survey including socio-demographic information and three selfreport questionnaires: the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form, the Attachment Style Questionnaire, and the Youth Self- Report for ages 11-18. Results showed that emotional abuse and neglect were related to internalizing problems both directly and indirectly through anxious attachment style. Girls who experienced higher levels of emotional abuse and who had an anxious attachment style reported more internalizing problems than boys, whereas higher levels of emotional neglect were associated with increasing levels of internalizing problems only for boys. This study expanded our knowledge of the role of anxious attachment in the onset of internalizing problems among adolescents with experiences of childhood emotional maltreatment.

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How to Cite

Falgares, G., Costanzo, G., Manna, G., & Lamis, D. A. (2024). Childhood emotional maltreatment and internalizing problems in a non-clinical sample of adolescents: a moderated-mediation model of insecure anxious attachment style and gender. Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome, 27(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/ripppo.2024.745
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