Sex-specific relationships among attachment security, social values, and sensation seeking in early adolescence: Implications for adolescents’ externalizing problem behaviour

In early adolescence, attachment security reflects not only the quality of ongoing relationships with parents, but also how adolescents process social relationships with “others” – that is, their “social value orientation” – with possible implications for adolescents’ risktaking. In this study, a sample of Italian early adolescents were administered self-report measures in order to examine the relationships (a) between early adolescents’ perceived attachment security to mothers and fathers, social values (related to family and the sociocultural context), and sensation seeking (as a temperamental predisposition to risktaking), and (b) between these variables and adolescents’ externalizing problem behaviour. Adolescents were more securely attached to the same-sexed parent. Further, attachment security with the opposite-sexed parent predicted more conservative social value orientations, and lower levels of problem behaviour. In contrast, sensation seeking predicted self-enhancement and openness-to-change values to a greater extent, and, in girls, lower levels of attachment security to mothers and fathers.