| In recent years, researchers investigating child and adolescent psychosocial development have increasingly considered the impact of contextual influences, including exposure to community violence (CV), child maltreatment (CM), and parent-child relationships. Numerous studies have suggested that both CV and CM are associated with maladaptive outcomes, including symptoms of psychopathology. In addition, several have linked both CV and CM to problems in the parent-child relationship, including insecure attachment. Finally, insecure attachment has been linked to elevated symptoms of psychopathology among adolescents. However, very few studies have investigated potential mediators of these associations, and no studies to my knowledge have examined the mediating role of attachment. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the mediating role of parent-child attachment in the relationships between exposure to community violence as well as child maltreatment and symptoms of psychopathology (i.e., depression, anxiety, PTSD, conduct disorder and psychopathy) in a sample of incarcerated youths.;The study was conducted using data from a sample of detained adolescents recruited from a detention center in Lake County, IL, and the Adult Attachment Interview was completed and coded for a total of 70 adolescents. The adolescents participated in a full day interview process at the detention center. We employed self-report scales to measure exposure to community violence and child maltreatment, both self-report and semi-structured interview procedures to measure attachment, self-report scales to measure symptoms of anxiety, PTSD and depression, and semi-structured interview and file review procedures to measure conduct disorder as well as traits of psychopathy.;Results indicated significant associations between levels of victimization by community violence and symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and conduct disorder as well as traits of psychopathy. Similarly, levels of witnessing violence were associated with symptoms of depression, PTSD and conduct disorder as well as traits of psychopathy, but not symptoms of anxiety. Levels of CM were associated with symptoms of anxiety, depression, and PTSD as well as traits of psychopathy, but not symptoms of conduct disorder. Moreover, levels of CV and CM were associated with scores on self-reported preoccupied attachment but not self-reported dismissing attachment. Only maltreatment, and not CV, was found to be significantly predictive of attachment classification based on the AAI, specifically preoccupied attachment. On one hand, scores on self-reported preoccupied attachment were associated with internalizing symptoms (i.e., anxiety, depression and PTSD), but not levels of externalizing problems (i.e., conduct disorder or traits of psychopathy). On the other hand, a trend toward significance was noted in associations between self-reported dismissing attachment and levels of externalizing problems, but not internalizing symptoms. Attachment classification based on the AAI was predictive of anxiety symptoms, but not any of the other indicators of psychopathology.;Finally, scores on self-reported preoccupied attachment mediated the relationships between CV and depression as well as anxiety, and the same was true for relationships between CM and depression as well as anxiety. Moreover, marginal significance was observed for the model in which preoccupied attachment classification, as assessed by the AAI, mediated the relationship between CM and symptoms of anxiety. In sum, preoccupied attachment emerged as the most consistent and robust mediator in the relationships between CV as well as CM and symptoms of psychopathology, specifically depression and anxiety. The implications and limitations of these findings were discussed. |
