The relationship between parental attachment, religious coping, and self-esteem in Korean-American adolescents

This study examined the relationship between insecure parental attachment, religious coping, and self-esteem with Korean-American adolescents, investigating the mediation effect of self-esteem on the relationship between insecure attachment and negative religious coping. Two hundred sixty-one Korean-American adolescents aged 12 to 18 from Korean immigrant churches in seven states completed the survey questionnaire to assess their attachment relationship with their mother and father, religious coping strategies, and self-esteem. Correlation analysis revealed significant correlations among the variables, and multiple regression analyses were used to detect the unique variance of father attachment in negative religious coping and the mediation effect of self-esteem on the relationship between insecure parental attachment and negative religious coping. A hierarchical regression analysis revealed that insecure father attachment did not account for a unique variance in negative religious coping after controlling for insecure mother attachment and self-esteem. Multiple regression analyses detected the mediation effect of self-esteem, but found no gender difference in the relationship between parental attachment and negative religious coping.