Relationships between parent affect regulation, mindful parenting, attachment, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms in a clinical adolescent sample

Adolescents are vulnerable to the onset of psychological disorders, yet research on parenting factors that promote adolescent mental health is sparse. Attachment security is a strong predictor of mental health outcomes so identifying parenting factors that support attachment security among adolescents may offer insight into modifiable factors that can be targeted in intervention. In a clinical sample of 785 families, this study examined the relationships between mindful parenting, parent affect regulation, adolescent-parent attachment anxiety and avoidance, and adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Analyses modelled the pathways from mindful parenting and parent affect regulation to attachment anxiety and avoidance, and, in turn, internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Mindful parenting and parent affect regulation were differentially related to attachment anxiety and avoidance, and indirectly predicted internalizing and externalizing symptoms through attachment anxiety and avoidance. These factors may be useful clinical targets for interventions aiming to promote attachment security and mental health in adolescents.