Attachment Preferences in Chinese Adolescents: Developing the Chinese Version of the Important People Interview

Based on Bowlby’s conceptualization of the attachment behavioral system, the Important People Interview (IPI) was developed to provide a measurement standard for assessing attachment preference in adolescents. This study utilized a sample of 1374 Chinese adolescents ( M age = 13.64, SD = 1.49, age range: 11–18 years; females = 48%) to validate the IPI for Chinese adolescents. The confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the IPI fit Chinese adolescents well. Higher preferences for the mother and father as attachment figures were positively associated with self-esteem, whereas lower preferences were negatively associated with depressive symptoms, and loneliness. In addition, higher preferences for same-gender friends and opposite-gender friends were positively associated with depressive symptoms, and loneliness. Conversely, the lower preferences for same-gender friends and opposite-gender friends were negatively associated with self-esteem. These findings suggest that higher preferences for parents and lower preferences for peers as attachment figures promote adjustment in both Western and East Asian adolescents.