Attachment Representations in Adolescent Mothers and Aggressive Behaviors in Their Children: A Configurational Analysis

There is limited research on the links between adolescent mothers’ attachment representations and aggressive behaviors in their children, despite evidence suggesting that the offspring of young mothers are at risk for interpersonal and legal problems later in life. The current study used configurational analyses of markers from mothers’ narratives in the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System to examine links between dimensions of attachment in 44 adolescent mothers and aggressive behavior in their children. Results suggest that lack of relational synchrony, ineffective agency (capacity to act), as well as disorganized and preoccupied representations, were salient markers of the pathways associated with high levels of proactive and reactive aggression in children. Conversely, the presence of integrated agency or synchrony in their attachment stories was a protective factor against aggression. These findings highlight several potential targets for therapeutic interventions with this population.