Whether and How Parental-Adolescent Attachment and Peer Attachment Relate to the Development of Self-Control in Adolescents: A Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis.

Abstract

Self-control denotes the capacity to intentionally pursue actions that align with long-term, meaningful goals. Although cumulative evidence has shown that parental-adolescent attachment and peer attachment are closely associated with self-control, the longitudinal links between mother attachment, father attachment, peer attachment, and self-control are unclear. This study utilized Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Models (RI-CLPMs) to analyse longitudinal data from 1312 Chinese adolescents (age range 12-18, Mage = 14.29, SD = 1.38; 50.2% boys) over 1 year with three measurements (i.e., 6 months apart across three cohorts). After separating within-person and between-person associations, the results from the RI-CLPMs revealed that, at the between-person level, both parental-adolescent attachment (including attachment to both mother and father) and peer attachment were positively associated with self-control. At the within-person level, cross-lagged effects were found between mother attachment and self-control. Additionally, self-control was found to positively predict subsequent father attachment and peer attachment. Furthermore, father attachment at T2 positively predicted self-control at T3, while peer attachment at T1 positively predicted self-control at T2. The differing findings regarding mother attachment, father attachment, and peer attachment highlight the importance of considering various significant figures in the study of attachment and self-control.