Adolescent Parental Attachment and Academic Motivation and Performance in Early Adolescence

Adolescent Parental Attachment and Academic Motivationand Performance in Early Adolescence1

Stephane Duchesne2 and Simon LaroseResearch Unit on Children’s Psycho-Social Maladjustment

Laval UniversityLaval, Québec, Canada

In this study, the links between adolescents’ attachment to parents and academicmotivation and performance were examined while considering problem behaviorsand perceived teacher support as potential mediators of those links. Participantswere 121 early adolescents who completed the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attach-ment (IPPA) to assess the quality of attachment to their mothers and fathers.Adolescents’ attachment to both parents was positively associated with academicmotivation. These significant links were mediated by adolescents’ perceptions ofsupport from teachers. Results are discussed in light of the different mechanisms thatcan relate attachment quality to adolescents’ academic motivation and performance.

In recent years, attachment theory has asserted itself as the referenceframework in developmental psychology to better understand how interac-tions with parents can promote healthy adolescent adjustment outside thefamily context (Allen & Land, 1999). Several studies have shown that positiveperceptions of self and others in attachment relationships with parents areassociated with numerous indicators of psychosocial adjustment in adoles-cence, such as problem behaviors (Laible, Carlo, & Raffaelli, 2000), percep-tions of social support (Larose & Boivin, 1998), and school adjustment(Papini & Roggman, 1992). These studies support the theoretical premisethat attachment quality with parents constitutes an important personalresource that may promote adolescents’ exploration of new social contextsand adaptive regulation of emotions, especially in times of stress (Kobak &Sceery, 1988; Thompson, 1999).

Many researchers in the field of school adjustment have suggested that thetransition to high school can be a potential source of stress that is greatenough to intensify adolescents’ vulnerability and predispose them todevelop psychosocial functioning problems (Isakson & Jarvis, 1999; Roeser

1The research described in this article was supported by grants from the Social Sciences andHumanities Research Council of Canada (#410-98-0892).

2Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Stéphane Duchesne orSimon Larose, Faculty of Education Sciences, Laval University, Laval, Québec, Canada G1K7P4.

1501

Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2007, 37, 7, pp. 1501–1521.© 2007 Copyright the AuthorsJournal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing, Inc.

& Eccles, 1998; Seidman, Allen, Aber, Mitchell, & Feinman, 1994). For asignificant number of adolescents, this transition coincides with an increase ininternalized and externalized problems (Achenbach, Howell, Quay, &Conners, 1991; Kazdin, 1993); a decrease in intrinsic motivation, self-confidence, and perceived academic competence (Goodenow, 1993; Harter,1996; Wentzel, 1994, 1998); and a deterioration in academic performance(Barber & Olsen, 2004; Eccles et al., 1993).

The goal of the present study is to determine whether attachment qualitywith both parents is associated with adolescents’ academic motivation andperformance during the first year in high school (i.e., Grade 7) and to test therole of problem behaviors (i.e., low internalized and externalized problems)and perceived teacher support as potential mediators of those links. In ourview, attachment theory is a promising perspective from which to understandthe personal mechanisms linked to academic processes and outcomes duringthe first year in high school because it highlights the critical importance ofsocial exploration, management of distress, and development of trust rela-tionships (Feeney & Noller, 1996), three developmental tasks that might playa crucial role during school transitions.

Nature and Functions of Attachment During Adolescence

Attachment theory posits that, based on the experiences of care andaffective support provided by parents, adolescents develop a feeling of secu-rity and help-seeking behaviors that function to protect them in situations ofdistress and to facilitate their exploration of the social world in general. Thisis a world that includes not only the family, but also peers and adults otherthan parents (Bowlby, 1969). This repertoire of affect and behaviors isthought to be intimately related to the presence of personal internal workingmodels.

These models are constructed on the basis of significant attachment expe-riences and allow adolescents to judge their self-worth in the attachmentrelationship and to assess the availability of the attachment figure as a sourceof comfort and support when they experience emotional distress (Cook,2000; Main, Kaplan, & Cassidy, 1985; Sroufe & Waters, 1977). Overall,adolescents with secure working models have a positive representation ofthemselves in an attachment relationship and perceive the attachment figureas being psychologically available and responsive. Adolescents with insecuremodels have a negative representation of themselves and forecast that theattachment figure will reject them or provide inconsistent responses (Kobak& Hazan, 1991). Those internalized models appear to stabilize during ado-lescence (Allen & Land, 1999; Sroufe, 1988) and influence adolescents’ per-ceptions and behaviors primarily in situations in which social exploration,

1502 DUCHESNE AND LAROSE

distress management, and development of new relationships are crucial totheir adjustment (Feeney & Noller, 1996).

Attachment to Parents and Adjustment During Adolescence

The association between attachment quality to parents and psychosocialadjustment in adolescence has been documented in several empirical studies(Allen & Land, 1999; Noom, Dekovic, & Meeus, 1999; Rice, 1990). Attach-ment quality has been positively related to self-esteem (Armsden & Green-berg, 1987), feelings of competence (Papini & Roggman, 1992), perceivedsocial support (Blain, Thompson, & Whiffen, 1993; Larose & Boivin, 1998),and a sense of mastery over their worlds (Paterson, Pryor, & Field, 1995). Ithas been negatively associated with feelings of loneliness (Kerns & Stevens,1996) and psychological distress (Cooper, Shaver, & Collins, 1998).

However, attachment theory is not very explicit about the possibility thatattachment can influence academic outcomes. Some attachment researchers(e.g., Sroufe, 1988) have argued that attachment should play a role primarilyin beliefs about self and others, in interpersonal and emotional domains, andwithin relationships with parents. In contrast, others propose that attach-ment quality to parents is likely to be related to academic outcomes becausethe positive internal working model of the self derived from a secure attach-ment relationship may contribute to the development of the child’s intrinsicmotivation and perceived academic competence (Larose, Bernier, &Tarabulsy, 2005; Moss & St-Laurent, 2001).

These hypotheses have received some support in the literature. Adoles-cents who perceive their parents as a source of security are more highlymotivated in school (Learner & Kruger, 1997), perform better in their school-work (Cotterell, 1992; Jacobsen & Hofmann, 1997), adjust better to thecontext of high school (Papini & Roggman, 1992) and college (Bernier,Larose, Boivin, & Soucy, 2004; Larose & Boivin, 1998), and exhibit morepositive learning dispositions during school transition (Larose et al., 2005).However, although these studies suggest that attachment may influence aca-demic outcomes, this relationship is probably indirect and possibly could beexplained by a series of mediators, such as problem behaviors and percep-tions of school support.

Problem Behaviors and Teacher Support as Mediators of AttachmentQuality/Academic Adjustment Link

Some studies have indicated that attachment quality to parents is nega-tively associated with the presence of externalized problems, such as theft,

ADOLESCENT PARENTAL ATTACHMENT AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE 1503

drug use, vandalism (Noom et al., 1999), and aggressive behavior (Laibleet al., 2000; Noom et al., 1999); and internalized problems, such as anxietyand depressive mood (Allen, Moore, Kuperminc, & Bell, 1998; Nada-Raja,McGee, & Stanton, 1992). On the other hand, the association between theseproblem behaviors and academic outcomes has been well documented inthe literature. For instance, some studies have shown that students whocontrol their impulsiveness in class appear to make a better adjustment toschool, whereas those who manifest higher levels of anxiety and depressionperceive themselves as lacking in academic ability (e.g., Cole, Martin, Peeke,Seroczynski, & Fier, 1999).

Integrating these two lines of research with that of attachment theory, itwas expected that internalized and externalized problem behaviors wouldmediate the link between poor attachment quality and academic motivationand performance during the high school transition. Children lacking a securebase, instead of turning to parents or other persons whom they trust, wouldseek other means to regulate their negative emotions. The exhibition ofinternalized (e.g., sadness) and externalized (e.g., aggressiveness) problembehaviors could constitute a way for children to express their needs forsecurity. Moreover, those behaviors would increase the risk that adolescentsentering high school will be rejected by their peers and perceived negativelyby their teachers (Kupersmidt, Coie, & Dodge, 1990), thereby affecting theiracademic motivation and performance.

On the contrary, attachment quality to parents would provide the ado-lescent with a context that is favorable to the healthy management of nega-tive emotions. This function could allow the adolescent to better toleratestrange and potentially stressful situations (e.g., starting high school) and touse behavioral strategies adapted to these situations (e.g., talking to parentsor teachers about their negative emotions). As a result, attachment quality toparents might provide protection against the development of internalized andexternalized behavioral problems in school, thereby facilitating adolescents’academic motivation and performance.

Attachment to parents has been related also to adolescents’ perceptions oftheir affective relationships with teachers and academic counselors (Cotterell,1992; Larose & Boivin, 1998; Soucy & Larose, 2000), and perceptions ofaffective relationships in the school environment to adolescents’ academicadjustment (Eccles et al., 1993; Moos, 1991; Roeser & Eccles, 1998; Roeser,Eccles, & Sameroff, 1998; Ryan, Stiller, & Lynch, 1994; Wentzel, 1998).Following the same lines of reasoning, it is expected that perceptions ofteacher support will mediate the relation between attachment and academicmotivation and performance.

According to attachment theory, security deriving from the relationshipwith parents encourages social exploration (Bowlby, 1969). In a period of


calm, this security could predispose children to move away from theirparents, while at the same time ensuring that the parent would be availableif needed. In adolescence, this secure exploration could foster socialskills (e.g., ability to develop significant ties to others) and favor the devel-opment of harmonious relationships with peers and adults other thanparents. This function of attachment, therefore, suggests that attachmentquality to parents can lead adolescents to perceive more support in rela-tionships with teachers, which in turn should facilitate their academic moti-vation and performance. Conversely, adolescents who exhibit poor-qualityattachment to parents will be more likely to have a negative perception ofteacher support and to experience adjustment problems in the first year ofhigh school.

Perceptions of Learning Environment as Control Variables

Studies in the field of academic motivation have suggested clearly thatacademic motivation and performance are determined partly by the natureand complexity of the task and the general environment in which the task isperformed (Eccles & Roeser, 2003; Maehr & Midgley, 1996). In the presentstudy, academic motivation and performance as well as problem behaviorsand perceptions of teacher support are assessed in the context of French andmathematics classes. These subjects often are perceived as difficult bystudents, and the learning environment in which they are taught has beendescribed more often as competitive rather than cooperative, particularly inmathematics classes (Eccles, 2004).

Since we want to take these important determinants of academic motiva-tion and performance into account and to isolate the effect of attachmentfrom those of learning environment and content, we test the direct effects ofattachment as well as the mediational effects of problem behaviors andperceived teacher support by controlling for two perceptions of the learningenvironment; that is, democracy and subject matter difficulty. The relation-ships between these two perceptions and academic outcomes have been welldocumented in several research studies (for reviews, see Urdan & Turner,2005; Walberg & Anderson, 1972).

In summary, the goal of the present study is to test a mediation model thatmight account for the relations between attachment quality to parents andacademic motivation and performance of young adolescents. The hypothesis,in this respect, is that associations between attachment and those academicoutcomes will be mediated by adolescents’ problem behaviors in class andtheir perceptions of support from teachers, independent of democracy andsubject matter difficulty.


Method

Procedure

All of the families of Grade 7 students3 who were attending a rural,French-language public high school in the Québec City area (n = 205) wereinvited to take part in this study. At the start of the new school year(September 1998), parents were sent a letter that included the following infor-mation: (a) the aim of the research project; (b) a description of the type ofquestionnaires; (c) implications of participating in the research; and (d) aninformed consent form. There were 121 families (59% response rate) whoallowed their adolescents to take part in the study in school.

In October 1998, the adolescents who were allowed by their parents toparticipate in the study completed (in their classroom) a set of questionnairescontaining an attachment measure, two quality of learning environmentmeasures, and an academic motivation measure. Since the majority of theschool’s Grade 7 students were allowed to participate in the study, thequestionnaires were administered during one class period. During this time,all of the teachers of French and mathematics classes assessed the behaviorsof adolescents in their classes. Only adolescents who were authorized by theirparents to participate in the study were assessed. The teachers previously hadindicated to their school administration that they were willing to collaboratein this research project.

Participants

Adolescents. Student participants were 121 adolescents (71 girls, 50 boys).Their mean age was 12.97 years (SD = .68). The students were nativeFrench-speaking Caucasians and all were in Grade 7 when the data werecollected.

Teachers. All Grade 7 French and mathematics teachers from the publicschool (5 women, 1 man) participated in the study. The teachers evaluatedthe adolescents’ externalized problems (aggressiveness, disruptive behaviors)and internalized problems (sadness, social withdrawal).

3For the great majority of adolescents, the educational system in Québec involves changingschools between Grade 6 and Grade 7. Few adolescents change school before Grade 6 or afterGrade 7. The second important transition generally occurs between the end of high school(Grade 11) and the first year of college. This situation, which is specific to the Québec system,accounted for our decision to collect data at the beginning of Grade 7 in September and October1998.


Measures

Attachment quality. The adolescents’ attachment quality was assessedwith the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA; Armsden &Greenberg, 1987). The questionnaire includes 25 items and evaluates degreeof mutual trust (10 items; e.g., “I trust my mother/father”), quality of com-munication (9 items; e.g., “When we discuss things, my mother/father con-siders my point of view”), and prevalence of anger toward and alienationfrom mothers and fathers (6 items; e.g., “I feel angry with my mother/father”). Questions were answered on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (nevertrue or almost never true) to 5 (always true or almost always true).

As recommended by Armsden and Greenberg (1987), an overall score wasobtained by summing the 25 items for the mother and for the father sepa-rately. A high score on the IPPA indicates positive quality of attachment (i.e.,high trust, good communication, low feelings of alienation). Reliability andconstruct validity of the IPPA are well established (Armsden & Greenberg,1987). High test–retest reliability has been reported (r = .93) over a 3-weekperiod (Armsden & Greenberg, 1987, as cited in de Jong 1992). Coefficientalphas were .78 and .75 for attachment to mother and father, respectively.

Externalized and internalized behaviors. To assess adolescents’ classroombehavior problems, French and mathematics teachers completed an eight-item questionnaire for each participating student in their classes describingthe following four patterns of behavior: social withdrawal (2 items; e.g.,“Student expresses low involvement with peers and avoidance of social con-tacts in class”; 1 = not very lonely to 7 = very lonely); sadness (2 items; e.g.,“Student reveals a lack of drive and enjoyment of life”; 1 = low sadness to7 = high sadness); disruptive behaviors (2 items; e.g., “Student talking ordemanding attention”; 1 = never disruptive to 7 = often disruptive); andaggressiveness (2 items; e.g., “Student threatens or verbally attacks”; 1 = noaggressive behaviors to 7 = many aggressive behaviors). These patterns, whichwere drawn from validated questionnaires such as the Child Behavior Check-list (CBCL; Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1983) and the Social Behavior Assess-ment Questionnaire (Zoccolillo, Tremblay, & Vitaro, 1996), helped tohighlight behavior problems that are more prominent in childhood andadolescence. A previous study (Dolbec, 2001) supported the construct valid-ity of this measure. Levels of behavior problems were based on meansbetween the French and mathematics teachers (r > .45).

A factor analysis with varimax rotation was conducted on the eight itemsof classroom behavior problems (mean scores). There were two orthogonalfactors derived from this analysis. The first factor explains 38.4% of thevariance (eigenvalue = 3.15), with positive loadings varying from .76 to .92 onthe social withdrawal and sadness items and nonsignificant loadings (< .30) on


the disruptive behavior and aggressiveness items. The second factor explains32.4% of the variance (eigenvalue = 2.52), with positive loadings varying from.77 to .81 on disruptive behavior and aggressiveness, and nonsignificantloadings (< .30) on the social withdrawal and sadness items. Consequently,two dimensions were computed as mean scores (externalized behaviors andinternalized behaviors) and were used as two distinct mediator variables.Coefficient alphas for those mean scores were .86 and .78 for externalizedproblem behaviors and internalized problem behaviors, respectively.

Perceived teacher support. Adolescents’ perceptions of support providedby their mathematics and French teachers were assessed with the personal-ization subscale of the Individualized Classroom Environment Questionnaire(ICEQ; Fraser & Fisher, 1986). This subscale, which consists of five itemsrated on a 5-point scale, evaluates the perceived availability and accessibilityof a particular teacher (e.g., “The mathematics [French] teacher talks witheach student”; “The mathematics [French] teacher takes a personal interest ineach student”; “The mathematics [French] teacher considers students’ feel-ings”). Reliability and validity of the ICEQ are well documented (see Fraser,1987, 1991). In the present study, coefficient alpha for the personalizationscore was .81.

Perceived learning environment. To take into account the expected influ-ence of the perceived learning environment on adjustment, adolescents com-pleted two scales of the short version of the Learning Environment Inventory(LEI; Anderson & Walberg, 1972). These scales cover dimensions that pre-viously have been related to high school adjustment (Walberg & Anderson,1968, 1972). Those dimensions are democracy (4 items; e.g., “Decisions in theclass are made by everyone”; “Some students impose their will on the wholeclass”) and subject matter difficulty (4 items; e.g., “The course is too easy formany of the students”; “In this class, the material is difficult”).

Items on this questionnaire were rated on a 4-point scale ranging from1 (disagree completely) to 4 (agree completely) and referred to the French andmathematics class environments. Substantial evidence of construct and pre-dictive validity of the scales has been presented in a number of previousstudies (Anderson & Walberg, 1972; Walberg & Anderson, 1972). In thecurrent study, coefficient alphas were .71 and .66 for democracy and subjectmatter difficulty, respectively.

Academic motivation and academic performance. Adolescents’ motivationwas assessed using the Academic Motivation Scale (Keeves, 1974). Thisself-report measure consists of 20 items rated on a 5-point scale ranging from1 (disagree completely) to 5 (agree completely) and provides an estimate ofstudents’ motivation and interest in school in general (e.g., “I always workhard at school”; “I want to go as far as possible in school”; “I rarely pushmyself at school,” reverse-scored). The scale has excellent metric qualities,


including good convergent, concurrent, and discriminant validity (Keeves,1974, 1986; Keeves & Larkin, 1986). In the present study, the coefficientalpha was .92.

Finally, with the consent of parents and teachers, the students’ end-of-year marks in French and mathematics were obtained from their reportcards. A high correlation was found between French and mathematicsachievement (r = .79, p < .001). Consequently, the mean score of these twoindicators was used as a dependent variable (i.e., academic performance).

Results

The results are presented in three steps. First, ANOVAs were computed toexamine gender differences in attachment, behavior problems, perceivedteacher support, and academic motivation and performance. Second, partialcorrelations were computed between attachment quality, behavior problems,perceived teacher support, and academic motivation and performance, con-trolling for perceptions of the learning environment (i.e., democracy, subjectmatter difficulty). Finally, the presence of mediating effects was tested withtwo sets of regression analyses in order to verify whether the presumed linkbetween attachment (predictor) and academic outcomes (criterion) wasexplained by the behavior problems of the adolescents (mediator) and theirperceptions of teacher support (mediator).

Gender Differences

Means and standard deviations of adolescents’ attachment are reported inthe left-hand side of Table 1. ANOVA was conducted on the attachmentscale. This analysis includes one between-subject factor (adolescent gender)and one within-subject factor (relationship). The results show a univariateeffect with regard to relationship, F(1, 111) = 42.31, p < .001. Adolescents’perceptions were more positive with regard to their mothers (M = 3.91) thantheir fathers (M = 3.50), t(112) = 6.85, p < .001. The gender and the Gender ¥Relationship interaction yielded no additional information.

ANOVAs with gender as a between-subjects factor were performed on theproblem behaviors, perceived support from teacher, and academic motiva-tion and performance variables. The results indicate a significant gendereffect for externalized behaviors, F(1, 93) = 14.62, p < .001; and for academicperformance, F(1, 93) = 6.86, p < .01. As shown in Table 1, boys showedhigher rates of externalized behaviors and lower levels of academic perfor-mance than did girls. This pattern of results is consistent with those reportedin previous studies (e.g., Cole et al., 1999; Vitaro & Gagnon, 1994), and


suggests that girls are less disruptive and perform better at school than doboys during the elementary and high school years.

Relations Among Variables

Table 2 shows that attachment to mother was related strongly to attach-ment to father (r = .70). The more the adolescents perceived the relationshipwith their mothers as positive, the more the relationship with their fatherswas perceived positively. On the basis of this latter finding, a total score(attachment) was computed and used in all subsequent analyses.

Table 2 indicates that adolescents’ attachment was positively related toperceptions of teacher support and to academic motivation. However, therewas no association between attachment, problem behaviors, and academicperformance. Table 2 also shows that internalized and externalized behaviorproblems were associated negatively with academic motivation and academicperformance; whereas perceived support from teachers was associated posi-tively with the latter outcomes. Moreover, perceived democracy was positivelyassociated with attachment, perceptions of teacher support, and academic

Table 1

Means of Study Variables

Boys Girls

M SD M SD

Attachment to mother 3.90 0.80 3.93 0.83Attachment to father 3.72 0.75 3.40 0.90Externalized behaviors 3.10 1.72 1.77 0.98Internalized behaviors 3.14 1.09 3.12 1.45Perceived teacher support 3.02 0.91 3.14 0.81Academic motivation 3.44 0.80 3.76 0.58Academic performance 66.46 11.64 73.67 12.43

Note. Attachment and perceived teacher support were rated on a 5-point scaleranging from 1 to 5 (5 = positive perceptions). Problem behaviors were rated on a7-point scale ranging from 1 to 7 (7 = high level of behavioral problems). Academicmotivation was rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 to 5 (5 = high level ofmotivation). Academic performance was rated on a 100-point scale ranging from 1 to100.


Tab

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Par

tial

Cor

rela

tion

sB

etw

een

Att

achm

ent

Var

iabl

esan

dA

dole

scen

ts’E

xper

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eat

Sch

ool

12

34

56

78

1.D

emoc

racy

—2.

Subj

ect

mat

ter

diffi

cult

y-.

26**

—3.

Ado

lesc

ents

’att

achm

ent

tom

othe

rs.3

9***

-.01

—4.

Ado

lesc

ents

’att

achm

ent

tofa

ther

s.2

2*-.

11.7

0***

—5.

Ext

erna

lized

beha

viou

rs-.

23*

.08

-.13

-.10

—6.

Inte

rnal

ized

beha

viou

rs.0

1.2

3*-.

16.0

1-.

12—

7.P

erce

ived

supp

ort

from

teac

her

.52*

**-.

23*

.26*

*.2

8**

-.24

**-.

05—

8.A

cade

mic

mot

ivat

ion

.29*

*-.

09.2

9**

.28*

*-.

57**

*-.

21**

.33*

**—

9.A

cade

mic

perf

orm

ance

.15

-.07

.16

.07

-.49

***

-.43

***

.18*

.53*

**

Not

e.C

orre

lati

ons

amon

gat

tach

men

t,pr

oble

mbe

havi

ors,

perc

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-m

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for

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expl

aine

dby

qual

ity

ofth

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t(d

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subj

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*p<

.05.

**p

<.0

1.**

*p<

.001

.


motivation and negatively with externalized behaviors. Finally, even thoughsubject matter difficulty was significantly correlated with internalized behav-iors and perceived teacher support, there was no association with academicmotivation and performance. Thus, there is no justification for using subjectmatter difficulty as a control variable in subsequent mediational analyses.Overall, the magnitude of these associations varies from low to moderate.

Fisher’s Z transformation of r for independent samples (girls vs. boys)was applied on pairwise correlations in Table 2 to examine if magnitude ofthe links varied in relation to adolescents’ gender. No significant genderdifferences were found at p < .05. Thus, relations among attachment quality,behavior problems, perceived teacher support, and academic motivation andperformance were similar for boys and girls, at least in the present sample.

Mediating Effects

It was expected that links between attachment, academic motivation, andperformance would be mediated by behavior problems and perceptions ofteacher support. Before testing this hypothesis, possible links between (a) thepredictive variable (i.e., attachment quality) and the predicted variable (i.e.,motivation and academic performance); (b) the predictor variable and themediating variable (i.e., perceived support and behavior problems in theclassroom); and (c) the mediating variable and the predicted variable wereexplored (Baron & Kenny, 1986).

As shown in Table 2, adolescents’ attachment to mother and to father waspositively associated with perceived support in class and academic motiva-tion. Also, perceived support from teachers was positively associated withacademic motivation. On the other hand, externalized and internalizedbehavior problems were not associated with attachment, which disqualifiesthese variables as potential mediators of the association between attachmentand academic adjustment. Then, one set of mediation analysis was con-ducted: Perceptions of teacher support could mediate the link between ado-lescents’ attachment quality and academic motivation.

We conducted two regression equations to test this hypothesis. In the firstequation (Equation A), we examined the contribution of attachment to theprediction of academic motivation (after controlling for perceived democracyin the learning environment). In the second equation (Equation B), were-examined this partial contribution in the presence of perceptions ofteacher support in class. If the contribution of teacher support was significantand that of attachment declined markedly, this suggested a mediating effect.

In a final step, Sobel’s tests (Baron & Kenny, 1986) were performed toverify whether the reduction in magnitude of beta coefficients was significant.


Sobel’s test produces a Z score that can be used to evaluate whether themediation path is greater than 0 when the direct independent–dependent pathis taken into account. This score is derived from the ratio of the betasobtained in the regression equations of two differing paths of the mediationalmodel (independent → mediator path; mediator → dependent path) to thestandard error of those betas. By taking into account this last statisticalparameter, it is possible to explain why in certain models of mediation,reduction of the beta of the attachment variable (Equation B) is not signifi-cant, even if it appears to be more important than those reported in otherequations. The Z score that results from Sobel’s test is significant (one-tailedsignificance levels) from 1.65 ( p < .05; see details in Baron & Kenny, 1986).Sobel’s formula (Baron & Kenny, 1986) is as follows:

ε √b sa ba s

s sab

a b2 2

2 22 2+ ∗ +

in which a is the unstandardized beta coefficient of the path linking theindependent variable (e.g., mothers’ attachment representations) to themediator variable (e.g., externalized problem behaviors), b is the unstan-dardized beta coefficient of the path linking the mediator variable (e.g.,externalized problem behaviors) to the dependent variable (e.g., academicmotivation), and s is the standard error of the corresponding beta.

Results in Table 3 show that perceptions of teacher support partiallymediated the link between attachment quality, as assessed by the adolescents,and their academic motivation. The beta score of perceptions of teachersupport (Equation B) was significant ( p < .01), whereas the beta score ofattachment was reduced but nonetheless remained significant (the beta fellfrom .32 to .24).4

Discussion

The main objective of the present study was to examine whether class-room behaviors and perceptions of teacher support mediate associationsbetween attachment quality and adolescents’ academic motivation and per-formance in the first year of high school. Adolescents’ perceptions of teachersupport had a partial mediating effect of the link between adolescents’ attach-

4Analyses were conducted separately for mother and father. Patterns of results do not differaccording to the attachment figure, which suggests that, at least in the present study, they can begeneralized to relationships with mother and father.


ment and their academic motivation. This partial mediating relationship wasidentified as significant after controlling for perceived democracy in learningenvironment.

This finding suggests that adolescents with high-quality attachment toparents become more willing to explore their school environment with con-fidence, which may lead them to develop more positive perceptions ofsupport from their teacher, thus fostering academic motivation. It also sup-ports the idea that a positive working model of others derived from a secureattachment relationship may lead to a better appreciation of the academicsupport provided by teachers. However, it should be kept in mind thatperceived support from teachers cannot completely explain the relationshipbetween attachment to parents and academic motivation, thus suggestingthat other mediators could play an important role.

Contrary to our expectations, externalized and internalized behaviors didnot mediate the link between attachment and academic motivation and per-formance in adolescents. In the case of externalized behaviors, the absence ofmediation might be attributable to common variance with perceptions ofdemocracy in the classroom, for which we have controlled. Indeed, datareported in Table 2 indicate that externalized behaviors were negatively asso-ciated with democracy (r = -.23, p < .05). Therefore, it is possible that themediating potential of problem behaviors was attenuated by the fact that

Table 3

Regression of Mediating Effect of Perceived Support in Attachment to Parentsand Academic Motivation

B

Academic motivation without mediator

SE B b t R2 Sobel’s test

Equation A .18***Attachment .30 .09 .32 3.42***

Academic motivation with mediatorEquation B .23*** Z = 2.42Attachment .23 .09 .24 2.53**Perceptions of teacher

support.24 .09 .29 2.74**

Note. Equations were performed while controlling for variance explained by democ-racy.**p < .01. ***p < .001.


these behaviors were already associated with this control variable. Thefinding that internalized behaviors did not play a mediating role might beexplained by the fact that this category of behavioral problems is moredifficult to detect in a structured context, such as the one prevailing in theclassroom. In these circumstances, this behavior would be assessed better bymothers and fathers than by teachers (Gagnon, Vitaro, & Tremblay, 1992) orby using sociometric measures.

No significant association was detected between attachment and aca-demic performance. This lack of results, combined with the fact thatattachment is related to academic motivation, suggests that attachment toparents is likely to be related to more subjective aspects of school adjust-ment. It may be possible that a secure attachment relationship with parentscontributes to the development of adolescents’ positive perceptions of theircapacities to learn, to make friends, and to develop positive relationshipswith teachers, which, in turn, would be positively associated with academicperformance.

Adolescents’ attachment was perceived to be of higher quality withregard to mothers than to fathers. The transition to high school coincideswith important physical and social changes for boys and girls that charac-terize their transition to puberty (Brooks-Gunn & Reiter, 1990). Thesechanges might lead adolescents to structure their attachment behaviorsaround their mothers, especially since the latter would be perceived to bethe best persons to provide comfort and support during this developmentaltime. Thus, adolescents’ search for closeness, combined with their mothers’sensitivity, likely would contribute to explaining the stronger attachmentperceived by adolescents with regard to mothers. Further studies mighthelp to confirm this idea.

On the other hand, it was previously pointed out that the nature of theaffective relationships between fathers and adolescents is different from thatcharacterizing the mother–adolescent relationship. It seems relevant to con-sider the main contexts in which attachment is most likely to be expressed. Itis possible that adolescents’ attachment with fathers is defined better when itis linked with a particular context (e.g., participation in recreational activi-ties; discussions about future directions; social and political discussions).Further studies would help to support these hypotheses.

Finally, girls showed fewer externalized behavior problems and higheracademic performance than did boys. This finding is consistent with thosethat have been reported in previous studies (e.g., Cole et al., 1999; Vitaro &Gagnon, 1994) and suggests that girls, by being less aggressive and perform-ing better at school than boys, are better equipped to adjust to a new schoolcontext in which expectations and demands are higher than those theyencountered in the past.


Limitations and Implications

It is important to note the principal limitations of the current study. First,the correlational design did not allow for any causal interpretation betweenthe principal variables that were studied. Although in theory, attachmentquality precedes academic motivation and performance, it is also possiblethat better academic adjustment leads adolescents and parents to develophigher quality attachment relationships. Second, the results might generalizeonly to self-reported attachment quality. Such a measure limits our under-standing of attachment to the conscious representations associated with theseexperiences. Finally, findings pertaining to attachment as a predictor weresignificant only for variables reported by the adolescent (i.e., teacher support,academic motivation), which can inflate the strength of associations betweenthese variables.

Some implications flow from this finding. With regard to intervention, itis important to provide parents with the tools that will enable them to be asource of support for their children: a base that will allow children to learnways in which to regulate their own emotions. It would be useful for parentsto learn (a) how to recognize events during the transition from elementaryschool to high school that are likely to cause distress for their children (e.g.,loss of friends, being teased by other students, adapting to new teachers), and(b) ways in which to intervene so as to soothe this distress and to teach theirchildren how to come to terms with these events. If parents succeed insoothing the distress, adolescents, in turn, might be better equipped to inte-grate into the classroom and might have a much greater chance to adjustproperly.

Finally, empirical research on other mediators should be conducted toidentify better the possible associations between attachment, academic moti-vation, and performance. These mediators could include those of a personalnature (e.g., temperament), of a family nature (e.g., parental control), and ofa social nature (e.g., sociometric status, deviant peer association).

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Adolescent Parental Attachment and Academic Motivation and Performance in Early Adolescence

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