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Attachment Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in Middle Childhood: the Role of Repetitive Thinking about Negative Affect and about Mother

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Abstract

Two studies with two independent samples aimed to investigate whether repetitive thinking about negative affect (RTna) and repetitive thinking about mother (RTm) can be mechanisms in the association between attachment anxiety and depressive symptoms in middle childhood. In Study 1 (N = 381) and Study 2 (N = 157) 9- to 12-year-olds completed self-report questionnaires measuring attachment, RTna and depressive symptoms. In Study 2, additionally, a questionnaire was developed to measure RTm, and a compound score for self- and mother-reported depressive symptoms was calculated. Results showed positive associations between attachment anxiety, RTna and RTm, and self-reported depressive symptoms and depressive symptoms agreed upon by mother and child. RTna and RTm mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and these depressive symptoms. RTm mediated this relationship even beyond RTna for the multi-informant compound score. Thus, RTna and RTm seem to be independent mechanisms explaining the association between attachment anxiety and depressive symptoms in middle childhood.

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Notes

  1. Results of the analyses without outliers and of the analyses in which we controlled for skewness can be obtained from the authors.

  2. Results of the analyses without outliers and of the analyses in which we controlled for skewness can be obtained from the authors.

  3. More detailed results about the mediation analyses with negative affectivity as control variable can be obtained from the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Parenting and Special Education, KU Leuven, Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 32 – bus 3765, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Magali Van de Walle & Guy Bosmans

  2. School Psychology and Child and Adolescent Development, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Patricia Bijttebier

  3. Developmental, Personality, and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Caroline Braet

Authors
  1. Magali Van de Walle
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  2. Patricia Bijttebier
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  3. Caroline Braet
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  4. Guy Bosmans
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Correspondence to Magali Van de Walle.

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Conflict of Interest

Magali Van de Walle, Patricia Bijttebier, Caroline Braet and Guy Bosmans declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Experiment Participants

All performed study procedures were in accordance with the ethical standards ofthe Social and Societal Ethics Committee of the KU Leuven and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Van de Walle, M., Bijttebier, P., Braet, C. et al. Attachment Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in Middle Childhood: the Role of Repetitive Thinking about Negative Affect and about Mother. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 38, 615–630 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-016-9552-z

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