The Relationship Between Parent Attachment and Behavior Problems of Adolescences During the Epidemic of COVID-19: The Mediating Role of Resilience

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.211220.196How to use a DOI?

Keywords

adolescents; parent attachment; behavior problem; resilience; COVID-19

Abstract

Objective: The incidence of behavior problems is very high among adolescents. Previous studies have shown that behavior problems can affect the physical and mental health of adolescents. And behavior problems closely relates to adolescences’ academic achievement, interpersonal communication, and personality development. While in 2020, the influence of COVID-19 upon the mental health of the public has received great concern. As a public pandemic, whether it could increase the incidences of behavior problem of adolescents is still unknown. Considering the protective factors of behavior problems, existing studies have found that family-related variables are very important protective factors for problem behaviors. However, whether and how family-related factors could influence behavior problems during this special time is unclear. From the view of positive psychology and attachment theory, the current study investigated the characteristics of behavior problems of adolescence and the influence of parent attachment as well as the mediating role of resilience during the epidemic of COVID-19.

Methods: Sixty-nine adolescents aged 12-18 in Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Hebei provinces of China were recruited during the epidemic of COVID-19as participants (M_age=15.83 years old, SD_age = 1.06 years old, including 19 boys). They were asked to complete a series of online questionnaires including the Parent Attachment Scale, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Adolescent Resilience Scale, and some basic information scale.

Results: The results showed that during the epidemic of COVID-19: (1) adolescents’ behavior problems were prominent, among which hyperactivity, attention problems, and emotional problems were significantly higher than other behavior problems; (2) among the relationship between parent-child attachment and adolescent problem behavior, the relationship between mother’s trust and behavior problems, parents’ alienation and behavior problems, and resilience and behavior problem were significant; and (3) the mediating analysis revealed that resilience plays a mediating role between mother’s trust, father’s alienation, mother’s alienation, and behavior problem.

Conclusion: The results showed that attention problems and emotional problems were the main behavior problems of adolescents during the epidemic period of the COVID-19. During this time, parent attachment could act as a protective factor which relates to adolescents’ behavior problem. What’s more, parent attachment could predict adolescents’ behavior problem through resilience. These results provide some implications for the intervention of problem behaviors during the COVID-19.

Copyright

© 2021 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL.

Open Access

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Zhu Zhuyue
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/12/24
TI  - The Relationship Between Parent Attachment and Behavior Problems of Adolescences During the Epidemic of COVID-19: The Mediating Role of Resilience
BT  - Proceedings of the 2021 4th International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences (ICHESS 2021)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1140
EP  - 1145
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.211220.196
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.211220.196
ID  - Zhuyue2021
ER  -