Adolescents' attachment, quality of relationships with residential caregivers, and emotion regulation

Introduction Adolescents in residential care are more likely to report insecure and especially disorganized attachments, which lead to difficulties in emotion regulation and compromise the quality of their interpersonal relationships. In residential care, it is expected that sensitive and responsive caregivers are able to help adolescents regulate their feelings of distress, enabling them to experience a sense of emotional security. The present study sought to analyze the effects of the quality of attachment on emotion regulation and to test the moderating effect of quality of relationship (from adolescents' and caregivers' perspectives) on this association. Methods The sample involved 306 adolescents, 12-18 years of age, living in residential care and 70 caregivers. Results The findings underscored the importance of the quality of the relationship with residential caregivers on adolescents' emotion regulation competencies over time. The results also showed that the quality of relationship (emotional closeness) as perceived by the caregivers moderated the association between adolescents' attachment avoidance levels and their emotion regulation strategies. Conclusions The results are discussed according to attachment theory, and underscore the role the relationship with caregivers plays in the affective reorganization of adolescents living in residential care.