Adolescent Parental Attachment and Academic Motivation

and Performance in Early Adolescence1

Stéphane Duchesne2 and Simon Larose

Research Unit on Children’s Psycho-Social Maladjustment
Laval University
Laval, Québec, Canada

In this study, the links between adolescents’ attachment to parents and academic
motivation and performance were examined while considering problem behaviors
and perceived teacher support as potential mediators of those links. Participants
were 121 early adolescents who completed the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attach-
ment (IPPA) to assess the quality of attachment to their mothers and fathers.
Adolescents’ attachment to both parents was positively associated with academic
motivation. These significant links were mediated by adolescents’ perceptions of
support from teachers. Results are discussed in light of the different mechanisms that
can relate attachment quality to adolescents’ academic motivation and performance.

In recent years, attachment theory has asserted itself as the reference

framework in developmental psychology to better understand how interac-
tions with parents can promote healthy adolescent adjustment outside the
family context (Allen & Land, 1999). Several studies have shown that positive
perceptions of self and others in attachment relationships with parents are
associated with numerous indicators of psychosocial adjustment in adoles-
cence, such as problem behaviors (Laible, Carlo, & Raffaelli, 2000), percep-
tions of social support (Larose & Boivin, 1998), and school adjustment
(Papini & Roggman, 1992). These studies support the theoretical premise
that attachment quality with parents constitutes an important personal
resource that may promote adolescents’ exploration of new social contexts
and adaptive regulation of emotions, especially in times of stress (Kobak &
Sceery, 1988; Thompson, 1999).
Many researchers in the field of school adjustment have suggested that the
transition to high school can be a potential source of stress that is great
enough to intensify adolescents’ vulnerability and predispose them to
develop psychosocial functioning problems (Isakson & Jarvis, 1999; Roeser

1
The research described in this article was supported by grants from the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada (#410-98-0892).
2
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Stéphane Duchesne or
Simon Larose, Faculty of Education Sciences, Laval University, Laval, Québec, Canada G1K
7P4.

1501

Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2007, 37, 7, pp. 1501–1521.

© 2007 Copyright the Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing, Inc.
1502 DUCHESNE AND LAROSE

& Eccles, 1998; Seidman, Allen, Aber, Mitchell, & Feinman, 1994). For a
significant number of adolescents, this transition coincides with an increase in
internalized and externalized problems (Achenbach, Howell, Quay, &
Conners, 1991; Kazdin, 1993); a decrease in intrinsic motivation, self-
confidence, and perceived academic competence (Goodenow, 1993; Harter,
1996; Wentzel, 1994, 1998); and a deterioration in academic performance
(Barber & Olsen, 2004; Eccles et al., 1993).
The goal of the present study is to determine whether attachment quality
with both parents is associated with adolescents’ academic motivation and
performance during the first year in high school (i.e., Grade 7) and to test the
role of problem behaviors (i.e., low internalized and externalized problems)
and perceived teacher support as potential mediators of those links. In our
view, attachment theory is a promising perspective from which to understand
the personal mechanisms linked to academic processes and outcomes during
the first year in high school because it highlights the critical importance of
social exploration, management of distress, and development of trust rela-
tionships (Feeney & Noller, 1996), three developmental tasks that might play
a crucial role during school transitions.

Nature and Functions of Attachment During Adolescence

Attachment theory posits that, based on the experiences of care and

affective support provided by parents, adolescents develop a feeling of secu-
rity and help-seeking behaviors that function to protect them in situations of
distress and to facilitate their exploration of the social world in general. This
is a world that includes not only the family, but also peers and adults other
than parents (Bowlby, 1969). This repertoire of affect and behaviors is
thought to be intimately related to the presence of personal internal working
models.
These models are constructed on the basis of significant attachment expe-
riences and allow adolescents to judge their self-worth in the attachment
relationship and to assess the availability of the attachment figure as a source
of comfort and support when they experience emotional distress (Cook,
2000; Main, Kaplan, & Cassidy, 1985; Sroufe & Waters, 1977). Overall,
adolescents with secure working models have a positive representation of
themselves in an attachment relationship and perceive the attachment figure
as being psychologically available and responsive. Adolescents with insecure
models have a negative representation of themselves and forecast that the
attachment figure will reject them or provide inconsistent responses (Kobak
& Hazan, 1991). Those internalized models appear to stabilize during ado-
lescence (Allen & Land, 1999; Sroufe, 1988) and influence adolescents’ per-
ceptions and behaviors primarily in situations in which social exploration,
 ADOLESCENT PARENTAL ATTACHMENT AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE 1503

distress management, and development of new relationships are crucial to

their adjustment (Feeney & Noller, 1996).

Attachment to Parents and Adjustment During Adolescence

The association between attachment quality to parents and psychosocial

adjustment in adolescence has been documented in several empirical studies
(Allen & Land, 1999; Noom, Dekovic, & Meeus, 1999; Rice, 1990). Attach-
ment quality has been positively related to self-esteem (Armsden & Green-
berg, 1987), feelings of competence (Papini & Roggman, 1992), perceived
social support (Blain, Thompson, & Whiffen, 1993; Larose & Boivin, 1998),
and a sense of mastery over their worlds (Paterson, Pryor, & Field, 1995). It
has been negatively associated with feelings of loneliness (Kerns & Stevens,
1996) and psychological distress (Cooper, Shaver, & Collins, 1998).
However, attachment theory is not very explicit about the possibility that
attachment can influence academic outcomes. Some attachment researchers
(e.g., Sroufe, 1988) have argued that attachment should play a role primarily
in beliefs about self and others, in interpersonal and emotional domains, and
within relationships with parents. In contrast, others propose that attach-
ment quality to parents is likely to be related to academic outcomes because
the positive internal working model of the self derived from a secure attach-
ment relationship may contribute to the development of the child’s intrinsic
motivation and perceived academic competence (Larose, Bernier, &
Tarabulsy, 2005; Moss & St-Laurent, 2001).
These hypotheses have received some support in the literature. Adoles-
cents who perceive their parents as a source of security are more highly
motivated in school (Learner & Kruger, 1997), perform better in their school-
work (Cotterell, 1992; Jacobsen & Hofmann, 1997), adjust better to the
context of high school (Papini & Roggman, 1992) and college (Bernier,
Larose, Boivin, & Soucy, 2004; Larose & Boivin, 1998), and exhibit more
positive learning dispositions during school transition (Larose et al., 2005).
However, although these studies suggest that attachment may influence aca-
demic outcomes, this relationship is probably indirect and possibly could be
explained by a series of mediators, such as problem behaviors and percep-
tions of school support.

Problem Behaviors and Teacher Support as Mediators of Attachment

Quality/Academic Adjustment Link

Some studies have indicated that attachment quality to parents is nega-

tively associated with the presence of externalized problems, such as theft,
1504 DUCHESNE AND LAROSE

drug use, vandalism (Noom et al., 1999), and aggressive behavior (Laible
et al., 2000; Noom et al., 1999); and internalized problems, such as anxiety
and depressive mood (Allen, Moore, Kuperminc, & Bell, 1998; Nada-Raja,
McGee, & Stanton, 1992). On the other hand, the association between these
problem behaviors and academic outcomes has been well documented in
the literature. For instance, some studies have shown that students who
control their impulsiveness in class appear to make a better adjustment to
school, whereas those who manifest higher levels of anxiety and depression
perceive themselves as lacking in academic ability (e.g., Cole, Martin, Peeke,
Seroczynski, & Fier, 1999).
Integrating these two lines of research with that of attachment theory, it
was expected that internalized and externalized problem behaviors would
mediate the link between poor attachment quality and academic motivation
and performance during the high school transition. Children lacking a secure
base, instead of turning to parents or other persons whom they trust, would
seek other means to regulate their negative emotions. The exhibition of
internalized (e.g., sadness) and externalized (e.g., aggressiveness) problem
behaviors could constitute a way for children to express their needs for
security. Moreover, those behaviors would increase the risk that adolescents
entering high school will be rejected by their peers and perceived negatively
by their teachers (Kupersmidt, Coie, & Dodge, 1990), thereby affecting their
academic motivation and performance.
On the contrary, attachment quality to parents would provide the ado-
lescent with a context that is favorable to the healthy management of nega-
tive emotions. This function could allow the adolescent to better tolerate
strange and potentially stressful situations (e.g., starting high school) and to
use behavioral strategies adapted to these situations (e.g., talking to parents
or teachers about their negative emotions). As a result, attachment quality to
parents might provide protection against the development of internalized and
externalized behavioral problems in school, thereby facilitating adolescents’
academic motivation and performance.
Attachment to parents has been related also to adolescents’ perceptions of
their affective relationships with teachers and academic counselors (Cotterell,
1992; Larose & Boivin, 1998; Soucy & Larose, 2000), and perceptions of
affective relationships in the school environment to adolescents’ academic
adjustment (Eccles et al., 1993; Moos, 1991; Roeser & Eccles, 1998; Roeser,
Eccles, & Sameroff, 1998; Ryan, Stiller, & Lynch, 1994; Wentzel, 1998).
Following the same lines of reasoning, it is expected that perceptions of
teacher support will mediate the relation between attachment and academic
motivation and performance.
According to attachment theory, security deriving from the relationship
with parents encourages social exploration (Bowlby, 1969). In a period of
 ADOLESCENT PARENTAL ATTACHMENT AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE 1505

calm, this security could predispose children to move away from their
parents, while at the same time ensuring that the parent would be available
if needed. In adolescence, this secure exploration could foster social
skills (e.g., ability to develop significant ties to others) and favor the devel-
opment of harmonious relationships with peers and adults other than
parents. This function of attachment, therefore, suggests that attachment
quality to parents can lead adolescents to perceive more support in rela-
tionships with teachers, which in turn should facilitate their academic moti-
vation and performance. Conversely, adolescents who exhibit poor-quality
attachment to parents will be more likely to have a negative perception of
teacher support and to experience adjustment problems in the first year of
high school.

Perceptions of Learning Environment as Control Variables

Studies in the field of academic motivation have suggested clearly that

academic motivation and performance are determined partly by the nature
and complexity of the task and the general environment in which the task is
performed (Eccles & Roeser, 2003; Maehr & Midgley, 1996). In the present
study, academic motivation and performance as well as problem behaviors
and perceptions of teacher support are assessed in the context of French and
mathematics classes. These subjects often are perceived as difficult by
students, and the learning environment in which they are taught has been
described more often as competitive rather than cooperative, particularly in
mathematics classes (Eccles, 2004).
Since we want to take these important determinants of academic motiva-
tion and performance into account and to isolate the effect of attachment
from those of learning environment and content, we test the direct effects of
attachment as well as the mediational effects of problem behaviors and
perceived teacher support by controlling for two perceptions of the learning
environment; that is, democracy and subject matter difficulty. The relation-
ships between these two perceptions and academic outcomes have been well
documented in several research studies (for reviews, see Urdan & Turner,
2005; Walberg & Anderson, 1972).
In summary, the goal of the present study is to test a mediation model that
might account for the relations between attachment quality to parents and
academic motivation and performance of young adolescents. The hypothesis,
in this respect, is that associations between attachment and those academic
outcomes will be mediated by adolescents’ problem behaviors in class and
their perceptions of support from teachers, independent of democracy and
subject matter difficulty.
1506 DUCHESNE AND LAROSE

Method

Procedure

All of the families of Grade 7 students3 who were attending a rural,

French-language public high school in the Québec City area (n = 205) were
invited to take part in this study. At the start of the new school year
(September 1998), parents were sent a letter that included the following infor-
mation: (a) the aim of the research project; (b) a description of the type of
questionnaires; (c) implications of participating in the research; and (d) an
informed consent form. There were 121 families (59% response rate) who
allowed their adolescents to take part in the study in school.
In October 1998, the adolescents who were allowed by their parents to
participate in the study completed (in their classroom) a set of questionnaires
containing an attachment measure, two quality of learning environment
measures, and an academic motivation measure. Since the majority of the
school’s Grade 7 students were allowed to participate in the study, the
questionnaires were administered during one class period. During this time,
all of the teachers of French and mathematics classes assessed the behaviors
of adolescents in their classes. Only adolescents who were authorized by their
parents to participate in the study were assessed. The teachers previously had
indicated to their school administration that they were willing to collaborate
in this research project.

Participants

Adolescents. Student participants were 121 adolescents (71 girls, 50 boys).

Their mean age was 12.97 years (SD = .68). The students were native
French-speaking Caucasians and all were in Grade 7 when the data were
collected.
Teachers. All Grade 7 French and mathematics teachers from the public
school (5 women, 1 man) participated in the study. The teachers evaluated
the adolescents’ externalized problems (aggressiveness, disruptive behaviors)
and internalized problems (sadness, social withdrawal).

3
For the great majority of adolescents, the educational system in Québec involves changing
schools between Grade 6 and Grade 7. Few adolescents change school before Grade 6 or after
Grade 7. The second important transition generally occurs between the end of high school
(Grade 11) and the first year of college. This situation, which is specific to the Québec system,
accounted for our decision to collect data at the beginning of Grade 7 in September and October
1998.
 ADOLESCENT PARENTAL ATTACHMENT AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE 1507

Measures

Attachment quality. The adolescents’ attachment quality was assessed

with the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA; Armsden &
Greenberg, 1987). The questionnaire includes 25 items and evaluates degree
of mutual trust (10 items; e.g., “I trust my mother/father”), quality of com-
munication (9 items; e.g., “When we discuss things, my mother/father con-
siders my point of view”), and prevalence of anger toward and alienation
from mothers and fathers (6 items; e.g., “I feel angry with my mother/
father”). Questions were answered on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (never
true or almost never true) to 5 (always true or almost always true).
As recommended by Armsden and Greenberg (1987), an overall score was
obtained by summing the 25 items for the mother and for the father sepa-
rately. A high score on the IPPA indicates positive quality of attachment (i.e.,
high trust, good communication, low feelings of alienation). Reliability and
construct validity of the IPPA are well established (Armsden & Greenberg,
1987). High test–retest reliability has been reported (r = .93) over a 3-week
period (Armsden & Greenberg, 1987, as cited in de Jong 1992). Coefficient
alphas were .78 and .75 for attachment to mother and father, respectively.
Externalized and internalized behaviors. To assess adolescents’ classroom
behavior problems, French and mathematics teachers completed an eight-
item questionnaire for each participating student in their classes describing
the following four patterns of behavior: social withdrawal (2 items; e.g.,
“Student expresses low involvement with peers and avoidance of social con-
tacts in class”; 1 = not very lonely to 7 = very lonely); sadness (2 items; e.g.,
“Student reveals a lack of drive and enjoyment of life”; 1 = low sadness to
7 = high sadness); disruptive behaviors (2 items; e.g., “Student talking or
demanding attention”; 1 = never disruptive to 7 = often disruptive); and
aggressiveness (2 items; e.g., “Student threatens or verbally attacks”; 1 = no
aggressive behaviors to 7 = many aggressive behaviors). These patterns, which
were drawn from validated questionnaires such as the Child Behavior Check-
list (CBCL; Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1983) and the Social Behavior Assess-
ment Questionnaire (Zoccolillo, Tremblay, & Vitaro, 1996), helped to
highlight behavior problems that are more prominent in childhood and
adolescence. A previous study (Dolbec, 2001) supported the construct valid-
ity of this measure. Levels of behavior problems were based on means
between the French and mathematics teachers (r > .45).
A factor analysis with varimax rotation was conducted on the eight items
of classroom behavior problems (mean scores). There were two orthogonal
factors derived from this analysis. The first factor explains 38.4% of the
variance (eigenvalue = 3.15), with positive loadings varying from .76 to .92 on
the social withdrawal and sadness items and nonsignificant loadings (< .30) on
1508 DUCHESNE AND LAROSE

the disruptive behavior and aggressiveness items. The second factor explains
32.4% of the variance (eigenvalue = 2.52), with positive loadings varying from
.77 to .81 on disruptive behavior and aggressiveness, and nonsignificant
loadings (< .30) on the social withdrawal and sadness items. Consequently,
two dimensions were computed as mean scores (externalized behaviors and
internalized behaviors) and were used as two distinct mediator variables.
Coefficient alphas for those mean scores were .86 and .78 for externalized
problem behaviors and internalized problem behaviors, respectively.
Perceived teacher support. Adolescents’ perceptions of support provided
by their mathematics and French teachers were assessed with the personal-
ization subscale of the Individualized Classroom Environment Questionnaire
(ICEQ; Fraser & Fisher, 1986). This subscale, which consists of five items
rated on a 5-point scale, evaluates the perceived availability and accessibility
of a particular teacher (e.g., “The mathematics [French] teacher talks with
each student”; “The mathematics [French] teacher takes a personal interest in
each student”; “The mathematics [French] teacher considers students’ feel-
ings”). Reliability and validity of the ICEQ are well documented (see Fraser,
1987, 1991). In the present study, coefficient alpha for the personalization
score was .81.
Perceived learning environment. To take into account the expected influ-
ence of the perceived learning environment on adjustment, adolescents com-
pleted two scales of the short version of the Learning Environment Inventory
(LEI; Anderson & Walberg, 1972). These scales cover dimensions that pre-
viously have been related to high school adjustment (Walberg & Anderson,
1968, 1972). Those dimensions are democracy (4 items; e.g., “Decisions in the
class are made by everyone”; “Some students impose their will on the whole
class”) and subject matter difficulty (4 items; e.g., “The course is too easy for
many of the students”; “In this class, the material is difficult”).
Items on this questionnaire were rated on a 4-point scale ranging from
1 (disagree completely) to 4 (agree completely) and referred to the French and
mathematics class environments. Substantial evidence of construct and pre-
dictive validity of the scales has been presented in a number of previous
studies (Anderson & Walberg, 1972; Walberg & Anderson, 1972). In the
current study, coefficient alphas were .71 and .66 for democracy and subject
matter difficulty, respectively.
Academic motivation and academic performance. Adolescents’ motivation
was assessed using the Academic Motivation Scale (Keeves, 1974). This
self-report measure consists of 20 items rated on a 5-point scale ranging from
1 (disagree completely) to 5 (agree completely) and provides an estimate of
students’ motivation and interest in school in general (e.g., “I always work
hard at school”; “I want to go as far as possible in school”; “I rarely push
myself at school,” reverse-scored). The scale has excellent metric qualities,
 ADOLESCENT PARENTAL ATTACHMENT AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE 1509

including good convergent, concurrent, and discriminant validity (Keeves,

1974, 1986; Keeves & Larkin, 1986). In the present study, the coefficient
alpha was .92.
Finally, with the consent of parents and teachers, the students’ end-of-
year marks in French and mathematics were obtained from their report
cards. A high correlation was found between French and mathematics
achievement (r = .79, p < .001). Consequently, the mean score of these two
indicators was used as a dependent variable (i.e., academic performance).

Results

The results are presented in three steps. First, ANOVAs were computed to
examine gender differences in attachment, behavior problems, perceived
teacher support, and academic motivation and performance. Second, partial
correlations were computed between attachment quality, behavior problems,
perceived teacher support, and academic motivation and performance, con-
trolling for perceptions of the learning environment (i.e., democracy, subject
matter difficulty). Finally, the presence of mediating effects was tested with
two sets of regression analyses in order to verify whether the presumed link
between attachment (predictor) and academic outcomes (criterion) was
explained by the behavior problems of the adolescents (mediator) and their
perceptions of teacher support (mediator).

Gender Differences

Means and standard deviations of adolescents’ attachment are reported in

the left-hand side of Table 1. ANOVA was conducted on the attachment
scale. This analysis includes one between-subject factor (adolescent gender)
and one within-subject factor (relationship). The results show a univariate
effect with regard to relationship, F(1, 111) = 42.31, p < .001. Adolescents’
perceptions were more positive with regard to their mothers (M = 3.91) than
their fathers (M = 3.50), t(112) = 6.85, p < .001. The gender and the Gender ¥
Relationship interaction yielded no additional information.
ANOVAs with gender as a between-subjects factor were performed on the
problem behaviors, perceived support from teacher, and academic motiva-
tion and performance variables. The results indicate a significant gender
effect for externalized behaviors, F(1, 93) = 14.62, p < .001; and for academic
performance, F(1, 93) = 6.86, p < .01. As shown in Table 1, boys showed
higher rates of externalized behaviors and lower levels of academic perfor-
mance than did girls. This pattern of results is consistent with those reported
in previous studies (e.g., Cole et al., 1999; Vitaro & Gagnon, 1994), and
1510 DUCHESNE AND LAROSE

Table 1

Means of Study Variables

Boys Girls

M SD M SD
Attachment to mother 3.90 0.80 3.93 0.83
Attachment to father 3.72 0.75 3.40 0.90
Externalized behaviors 3.10 1.72 1.77 0.98
Internalized behaviors 3.14 1.09 3.12 1.45
Perceived teacher support 3.02 0.91 3.14 0.81
Academic motivation 3.44 0.80 3.76 0.58
Academic performance 66.46 11.64 73.67 12.43
Note. Attachment and perceived teacher support were rated on a 5-point scale
ranging from 1 to 5 (5 = positive perceptions). Problem behaviors were rated on a
7-point scale ranging from 1 to 7 (7 = high level of behavioral problems). Academic
motivation was rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 to 5 (5 = high level of
motivation). Academic performance was rated on a 100-point scale ranging from 1 to
100.

suggests that girls are less disruptive and perform better at school than do
boys during the elementary and high school years.

Relations Among Variables

Table 2 shows that attachment to mother was related strongly to attach-

ment to father (r = .70). The more the adolescents perceived the relationship
with their mothers as positive, the more the relationship with their fathers
was perceived positively. On the basis of this latter finding, a total score
(attachment) was computed and used in all subsequent analyses.
Table 2 indicates that adolescents’ attachment was positively related to
perceptions of teacher support and to academic motivation. However, there
was no association between attachment, problem behaviors, and academic
performance. Table 2 also shows that internalized and externalized behavior
problems were associated negatively with academic motivation and academic
performance; whereas perceived support from teachers was associated posi-
tively with the latter outcomes. Moreover, perceived democracy was positively
associated with attachment, perceptions of teacher support, and academic
Table 2

Partial Correlations Between Attachment Variables and Adolescents’ Experience at School

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1. Democracy —
2. Subject matter difficulty -.26** —
3. Adolescents’ attachment to mothers .39*** -.01 —
4. Adolescents’ attachment to fathers .22* -.11 .70*** —
5. Externalized behaviours -.23* .08 -.13 -.10 —
6. Internalized behaviours .01 .23* -.16 .01 -.12 —
7. Perceived support from teacher .52*** -.23* .26** .28** -.24** -.05 —
8. Academic motivation .29** -.09 .29** .28** -.57*** -.21** .33*** —
9. Academic performance .15 -.07 .16 .07 -.49*** -.43*** .18* .53***
Note. Correlations among attachment, problem behaviors, perceived teacher support, academic motivation, and academic perfor-
mance were performed while controlling for the variance explained by quality of the learning environment (democracy and subject
matter difficulty).
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
ADOLESCENT PARENTAL ATTACHMENT AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
1511
1512 DUCHESNE AND LAROSE

motivation and negatively with externalized behaviors. Finally, even though

subject matter difficulty was significantly correlated with internalized behav-
iors and perceived teacher support, there was no association with academic
motivation and performance. Thus, there is no justification for using subject
matter difficulty as a control variable in subsequent mediational analyses.
Overall, the magnitude of these associations varies from low to moderate.
Fisher’s Z transformation of r for independent samples (girls vs. boys)
was applied on pairwise correlations in Table 2 to examine if magnitude of
the links varied in relation to adolescents’ gender. No significant gender
differences were found at p < .05. Thus, relations among attachment quality,
behavior problems, perceived teacher support, and academic motivation and
performance were similar for boys and girls, at least in the present sample.

Mediating Effects

It was expected that links between attachment, academic motivation, and

performance would be mediated by behavior problems and perceptions of
teacher support. Before testing this hypothesis, possible links between (a) the
predictive variable (i.e., attachment quality) and the predicted variable (i.e.,
motivation and academic performance); (b) the predictor variable and the
mediating variable (i.e., perceived support and behavior problems in the
classroom); and (c) the mediating variable and the predicted variable were
explored (Baron & Kenny, 1986).
As shown in Table 2, adolescents’ attachment to mother and to father was
positively associated with perceived support in class and academic motiva-
tion. Also, perceived support from teachers was positively associated with
academic motivation. On the other hand, externalized and internalized
behavior problems were not associated with attachment, which disqualifies
these variables as potential mediators of the association between attachment
and academic adjustment. Then, one set of mediation analysis was con-
ducted: Perceptions of teacher support could mediate the link between ado-
lescents’ attachment quality and academic motivation.
We conducted two regression equations to test this hypothesis. In the first
equation (Equation A), we examined the contribution of attachment to the
prediction of academic motivation (after controlling for perceived democracy
in the learning environment). In the second equation (Equation B), we
re-examined this partial contribution in the presence of perceptions of
teacher support in class. If the contribution of teacher support was significant
and that of attachment declined markedly, this suggested a mediating effect.
In a final step, Sobel’s tests (Baron & Kenny, 1986) were performed to
verify whether the reduction in magnitude of beta coefficients was significant.
 ADOLESCENT PARENTAL ATTACHMENT AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE 1513

Sobel’s test produces a Z score that can be used to evaluate whether the
mediation path is greater than 0 when the direct independent–dependent path
is taken into account. This score is derived from the ratio of the betas
obtained in the regression equations of two differing paths of the mediational
model (independent → mediator path; mediator → dependent path) to the
standard error of those betas. By taking into account this last statistical
parameter, it is possible to explain why in certain models of mediation,
reduction of the beta of the attachment variable (Equation B) is not signifi-
cant, even if it appears to be more important than those reported in other
equations. The Z score that results from Sobel’s test is significant (one-tailed
significance levels) from 1.65 ( p < .05; see details in Baron & Kenny, 1986).
Sobel’s formula (Baron & Kenny, 1986) is as follows:

a∗b 2 2
ε √b2 sa2 + + sa sb
a 2 sb2

in which a is the unstandardized beta coefficient of the path linking the

independent variable (e.g., mothers’ attachment representations) to the
mediator variable (e.g., externalized problem behaviors), b is the unstan-
dardized beta coefficient of the path linking the mediator variable (e.g.,
externalized problem behaviors) to the dependent variable (e.g., academic
motivation), and s is the standard error of the corresponding beta.
Results in Table 3 show that perceptions of teacher support partially
mediated the link between attachment quality, as assessed by the adolescents,
and their academic motivation. The beta score of perceptions of teacher
support (Equation B) was significant ( p < .01), whereas the beta score of
attachment was reduced but nonetheless remained significant (the beta fell
from .32 to .24).4

Discussion

The main objective of the present study was to examine whether class-
room behaviors and perceptions of teacher support mediate associations
between attachment quality and adolescents’ academic motivation and per-
formance in the first year of high school. Adolescents’ perceptions of teacher
support had a partial mediating effect of the link between adolescents’ attach-

4
Analyses were conducted separately for mother and father. Patterns of results do not differ
according to the attachment figure, which suggests that, at least in the present study, they can be
generalized to relationships with mother and father.
1514 DUCHESNE AND LAROSE

Table 3

Regression of Mediating Effect of Perceived Support in Attachment to Parents

and Academic Motivation

Academic motivation without mediator

B SE B b t R2 Sobel’s test
Equation A .18***
Attachment .30 .09 .32 3.42***
Academic motivation with mediator
Equation B .23*** Z = 2.42
Attachment .23 .09 .24 2.53**
Perceptions of teacher .24 .09 .29 2.74**
support
Note. Equations were performed while controlling for variance explained by democ-
racy.
**p < .01. ***p < .001.

ment and their academic motivation. This partial mediating relationship was
identified as significant after controlling for perceived democracy in learning
environment.
This finding suggests that adolescents with high-quality attachment to
parents become more willing to explore their school environment with con-
fidence, which may lead them to develop more positive perceptions of
support from their teacher, thus fostering academic motivation. It also sup-
ports the idea that a positive working model of others derived from a secure
attachment relationship may lead to a better appreciation of the academic
support provided by teachers. However, it should be kept in mind that
perceived support from teachers cannot completely explain the relationship
between attachment to parents and academic motivation, thus suggesting
that other mediators could play an important role.
Contrary to our expectations, externalized and internalized behaviors did
not mediate the link between attachment and academic motivation and per-
formance in adolescents. In the case of externalized behaviors, the absence of
mediation might be attributable to common variance with perceptions of
democracy in the classroom, for which we have controlled. Indeed, data
reported in Table 2 indicate that externalized behaviors were negatively asso-
ciated with democracy (r = -.23, p < .05). Therefore, it is possible that the
mediating potential of problem behaviors was attenuated by the fact that
 ADOLESCENT PARENTAL ATTACHMENT AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE 1515

these behaviors were already associated with this control variable. The
finding that internalized behaviors did not play a mediating role might be
explained by the fact that this category of behavioral problems is more
difficult to detect in a structured context, such as the one prevailing in the
classroom. In these circumstances, this behavior would be assessed better by
mothers and fathers than by teachers (Gagnon, Vitaro, & Tremblay, 1992) or
by using sociometric measures.
No significant association was detected between attachment and aca-
demic performance. This lack of results, combined with the fact that
attachment is related to academic motivation, suggests that attachment to
parents is likely to be related to more subjective aspects of school adjust-
ment. It may be possible that a secure attachment relationship with parents
contributes to the development of adolescents’ positive perceptions of their
capacities to learn, to make friends, and to develop positive relationships
with teachers, which, in turn, would be positively associated with academic
performance.
Adolescents’ attachment was perceived to be of higher quality with
regard to mothers than to fathers. The transition to high school coincides
with important physical and social changes for boys and girls that charac-
terize their transition to puberty (Brooks-Gunn & Reiter, 1990). These
changes might lead adolescents to structure their attachment behaviors
around their mothers, especially since the latter would be perceived to be
the best persons to provide comfort and support during this developmental
time. Thus, adolescents’ search for closeness, combined with their mothers’
sensitivity, likely would contribute to explaining the stronger attachment
perceived by adolescents with regard to mothers. Further studies might
help to confirm this idea.
On the other hand, it was previously pointed out that the nature of the
affective relationships between fathers and adolescents is different from that
characterizing the mother–adolescent relationship. It seems relevant to con-
sider the main contexts in which attachment is most likely to be expressed. It
is possible that adolescents’ attachment with fathers is defined better when it
is linked with a particular context (e.g., participation in recreational activi-
ties; discussions about future directions; social and political discussions).
Further studies would help to support these hypotheses.
Finally, girls showed fewer externalized behavior problems and higher
academic performance than did boys. This finding is consistent with those
that have been reported in previous studies (e.g., Cole et al., 1999; Vitaro &
Gagnon, 1994) and suggests that girls, by being less aggressive and perform-
ing better at school than boys, are better equipped to adjust to a new school
context in which expectations and demands are higher than those they
encountered in the past.
1516 DUCHESNE AND LAROSE

Limitations and Implications

It is important to note the principal limitations of the current study. First,

the correlational design did not allow for any causal interpretation between
the principal variables that were studied. Although in theory, attachment
quality precedes academic motivation and performance, it is also possible
that better academic adjustment leads adolescents and parents to develop
higher quality attachment relationships. Second, the results might generalize
only to self-reported attachment quality. Such a measure limits our under-
standing of attachment to the conscious representations associated with these
experiences. Finally, findings pertaining to attachment as a predictor were
significant only for variables reported by the adolescent (i.e., teacher support,
academic motivation), which can inflate the strength of associations between
these variables.
Some implications flow from this finding. With regard to intervention, it
is important to provide parents with the tools that will enable them to be a
source of support for their children: a base that will allow children to learn
ways in which to regulate their own emotions. It would be useful for parents
to learn (a) how to recognize events during the transition from elementary
school to high school that are likely to cause distress for their children (e.g.,
loss of friends, being teased by other students, adapting to new teachers), and
(b) ways in which to intervene so as to soothe this distress and to teach their
children how to come to terms with these events. If parents succeed in
soothing the distress, adolescents, in turn, might be better equipped to inte-
grate into the classroom and might have a much greater chance to adjust
properly.
Finally, empirical research on other mediators should be conducted to
identify better the possible associations between attachment, academic moti-
vation, and performance. These mediators could include those of a personal
nature (e.g., temperament), of a family nature (e.g., parental control), and of
a social nature (e.g., sociometric status, deviant peer association).

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