The mediating role of parent–adolescent attachment in the relationship between positive parenting practices and adolescent social adjustment: A systematic literature review

  • Karel Aditya Prayoga Department of Guidance and Counseling, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training, Universitas Islam Negeri Raden Intan Lampung, Indonesia
  • Defriyanto Defriyanto Department of Guidance and Counseling, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training, Universitas Islam Negeri Raden Intan Lampung, Indonesia
Keywords: Positive Parenting Practices, Parent–Adolescent Attachment, Adolescent Social Adjustment, Systematic Literature Review, Attachment

Abstract

Adolescent social adjustment is a critical aspect of psychosocial development influenced by parenting practices and family relationships. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship, particularly the role of Parent–Adolescent Attachment, remain insufficiently understood. This study aims to examine the mediating role of Parent–Adolescent Attachment in the relationship between Positive Parenting Practices and adolescent social adjustment. This study employed a systematic literature review approach based on articles from Scopus, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect, following the PRISMA framework, resulting in 28 primary studies and 21 supporting articles. The findings indicate that Positive Parenting Practices are associated with better adolescent social adjustment, both directly and indirectly through Parent–Adolescent Attachment. Secure attachment supports emotional regulation, interpersonal trust, and healthy social relationships. These findings highlight the importance of attachment as a key relational mechanism and provide implications for counseling practices that emphasize strengthening family relationships.

References

Alcaide, M., Garcia, O. F., Gomez-Ortiz, O. & Garcia, F. (2025). Raising to conformity without strictness: Is it achievable? Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1568132. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1568132

Ban, Y., Sun, J., Bai, B. & Liu, J. (2024). Parent-adolescent attachment and well-being among chinese hearing-impaired students: the mediating role of resilience and the moderating role of emotional and behavioral problems. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 36(1), 111–124. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-023-09899-4

Bao, L., Kristen, A., Liu, H., Dys, S., Gao, Y., Wu, Q., Xiao, B., Xu, J., Zhang, H., Zhang, W., Zhang, Z. & Moretti, M. M. (2025). A Pilot study of an attachment-based parenting intervention for parents of adolescents in China: Translation, modifications, and preliminary effectiveness. Family Process, 64(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.70040

Baumert, J., Becker, M., Jansen, M. & Köller, O. (2024). Cultural identity and the academic, social, and psychological adjustment of adolescents with immigration background. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 53(2), 294–315. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01853-z

Chen, H., Wang, C., Lu, T., Tao, B., Gao, Y. & Yan, J. (2022). The relationship between physical activity and college students’ mobile phone addiction: the chain-based mediating role of psychological capital and social adaptation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(15). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159286

Climent-Galarza, S., Alcaide, M., Garcia, O. F., Chen, F. & Garcia, F. (2022). Parental socialization, delinquency during adolescence and adjustment in adolescents and adult children. Behavioral Sciences, 12(11). https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12110448

Delgado, E., Serna, C., Martínez, I. & Cruise, E. (2022). Parental attachment and peer relationships in adolescence: a systematic review. In International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (Vol. 19, Issue 3). MDPI. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031064

Dong, Y., Wang, H., Luan, F., Li, Z. & Cheng, L. (2021). How children feel matters: teacher–student relationship as an indirect role between interpersonal trust and social adjustment. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(January), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.581235

Flykt, M., Vänskä, M., Punamäki, R. L., Heikkilä, L., Tiitinen, A., Poikkeus, P. & Lindblom, J. (2021). Adolescent attachment profiles are associated with mental health and risk-taking behavior. Frontiers in Psychology, 12(December). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.761864

Gimenez-Serrano, S., Garcia, F. & Garcia, O. F. (2022). Parenting styles and its relations with personal and social adjustment beyond adolescence: Is the current evidence enough? European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 19(5), 749–769. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2021.1952863

Green, R., Linga-Easwaran, J., Goodman, C., Taylor, M., Fabiano, G. F., Miller, S. P. & Williams, T. S. (2024). Positive parenting practices support children at neurological risk during COVID-19: a call for accessible parenting interventions. Frontiers in Psychology, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1328476

Habibi, M., et al. (2025). Maternal, paternal, and peer attachment and adolescent behavior problems: A validation study of the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA-45). Journal of Adolescence.

Harsono, C. S. & Febriyana, N. (2026). Understanding and addressing bullying in children and adolescents. Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 37(1), 51–62. https://doi.org/10.5765/jkacap.250040

Hasani, M., Maleki, A., Mohebbi, P. & Ebrahimi, L. (2024). The effectiveness of the SATIR approach on parent-child attachment among adolescent mothers: a before-after study. Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine, 37(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/14767058.2024.2415376

Hayek, J., Schneider, F., Lahoud, N., Tueni, M. & de Vries, H. (2022). Authoritative parenting stimulates academic achievement, also partly via self-efficacy and intention towards getting good grades. PLoS ONE, 17(3 March), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265595

Jianhua, H., Su, X. & Shuhui, X. (2025). Parent–child attachment and adolescent problematic behavior: the mediating effect of legal emotions. Frontiers in Psychology, 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1546895

Jones, A., Golds, L., Duncan, N., Spivacenco, I., Mamaliga, D., Tainsh, R., Ibrahim, R. & MacBeth, A. (2025). Effectiveness of Mellow Parenting on parental mental health and parenting outcomes on a vulnerable parent sample in Moldova. Plos One, 20(6 June), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0325245

Jørgensen, M. S., Vestergaard, M., Beck, E., Storebø, O. J., Poulsen, S., Simonsen, E. & Bo, S. (2024). Attachment problems and mentalizing capacity relate to parent–child informant discrepancies in female adolescents with borderline personality disorder. Child Psychiatry and Human Development. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-024-01735-w

Kaasbøll, J., Berg, M. N. & Storhaug, A. S. (2025). Mental health and parenting practices and styles among parents receiving child welfare services in norway: a cross-sectional study. Child and Family Social Work, 30(4), 894–904. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.13226

Kaasbøll, J., Skokauskas, N., Lydersen, S. & Sund, A. M. (2021). Parental chronic illness, internalizing problems in young adulthood and the mediating role of adolescent attachment to parents: a prospective cohort study. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.807563

Karwatowska, L., Solmi, F., Baldwin, J. R., Jaffee, S. R., Viding, E., Pingault, J. B. & De Stavola, B. L. (2025). Positive and negative parenting practices and offspring disruptive behavior: A meta-analytic review of quasi-experimental evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 151(11), 1363–1381. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000495

Leben Novak, L., Gomboc, V., Poštuvan, V., De Leo, D., Rosenstein, Ž. & Drobni? Radobuljac, M. (2023). The influence of insecure attachment to parents on adolescents’ suicidality. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(4). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20042827

Lee, G. Y. & Lee, D. Y. (2021). Structural relationships among adolescents’ peer attachment, career-related self-efficacy, parents’ attitudes and health risk behaviours. Nursing Open, 8(6), 3315–3324. https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.1048

Li, M., Lan, R., Ma, P. & Gong, H. (2023). The effect of positive parenting on adolescent life satisfaction: the mediating role of parent-adolescent attachment. Frontiers in Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1183546

Li, S., Tang, Y. & Zheng, Y. (2023). How the home learning environment contributes to children’s social–emotional competence: A moderated mediation model. Frontiers in Psychology, 14(February), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1065978

Li, Y., et al. (2026). The relationship between anxiety and parent-child attachment and psychological resilience among Chinese college students. Frontiers in Psychology.

Liu, Y., et al. (2024). Effect of parenting style, attachment to parents and self-compassion on non-suicidal self-injury in adolescents. Journal of Adolescence.

Mancinelli, E., et al. (2021). A cross-cultural study on attachment and adjustment difficulties in adolescence. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(20), 10742. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010742

Mancinelli, E., et al. (2021). Adolescents’ attachment to parents and reactive-proactive aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 47(5), 522–533.https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21985

Molleman, L., Ciranka, S. & Van Den Bos, W. (2022). Social influence in adolescence as a double-edged sword. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 289(1977). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0045

Musetti, A., et al. (2024). Parental quality of life, child adjustment and adult attachment in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 147, 104567. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2023.104567

Pan, Y., Zhang, Q., Liu, G., Li, B. & Liu, C. (2022). Correction to: Parents’ attachment styles and adolescents’ regulatory emotional self-efficacy: the mediating role of adolescents’ attachment to parents in China (Applied Research in Quality of Life, (2021), 10.1007/s11482-021-09991-x). In Applied Research in Quality of Life (Vol. 17, Issue 3, pp. 1931–1932). Springer Science and Business Media B.V. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-021-10014-y

Quintigliano, M., Carone, N., Speranza, A. M., Tanzilli, A., Baiocco, R., Barone, L., Pastorelli, C. & Lingiardi, V. (2022). Adolescent development and the parent–adolescent relationship in diverse family forms created by assisted reproduction. In International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (Vol. 19, Issue 24). MDPI. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416758

Schneider, M., et al. (2022). Attachment-based parent–adolescent interaction linked to visual attention and autonomic arousal. Developmental Psychobiology, 64(6), e22272. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.22272

Tambelli, R., Cimino, S., Marzilli, E., Ballarotto, G. & Cerniglia, L. (2021). Late adolescents’ attachment to parents and peers and psychological distress resulting from covid-19. A study on the mediation role of alexithymia. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(20). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010649

Tan, R., Yang, Y., Huang, T., Lin, X. & Gao, H. (2023). Parent-child attachment and mental health in young adolescents: A moderated mediation analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1298485. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1298485

Vagos, P., et al. (2021). The impact of attachment to parents and peers on the psychopathic traits of adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 87, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2021.01.002

Wang, M. Te, Scanlon, C. L., Del Toro, J. & Qin, X. (2023). Adolescent psychological adjustment and social supports during pandemic-onset remote learning: A national multi-wave daily-diary study. Development and Psychopathology, 35(5), 2533–2550. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579423001049

Yang, B., Chen, B. Bin, Qu, Y. & Zhu, Y. (2022a). The positive role of parental attachment and communication in Chinese adolescents’ health behavior and mental health during COVID-19. Journal of Adolescence, 94(8), 1081–1095. https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12085

Yang, B., Chen, B. Bin, Qu, Y. & Zhu, Y. (2022b). The positive role of parental attachment and communication in Chinese adolescents’ health behavior and mental health during COVID-19. Journal of Adolescence, 94(8), 1081–1095. https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12085

Yang, J., Deng, Y. & Wang, Y. (2023). Reciprocal associations among social–emotional competence, interpersonal relationships and academic achievements in primary school. Behavioral Sciences, 13(11). https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13110922

Zhou, S., Kwan, C. K., Ai, Y. & Ma, Y. (2025). Parent-adolescent intergenerational transmission of distress: the roles of family climate, adolescents’ self-compassion and mindfulness. Frontiers in Psychology, 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1595515

Published
2026-06-01