Attachment styles and psychopathology among adolescent children of parents with bipolar disorder

• Published in: Medical science monitor 2015-04, Vol.21, p.1083-1088
• Main Authors: Erkan, Mustafa, Gencoglan, Salih, Akguc, Leyla, Ozatalay, Esin, Fettahoglu, Emine Cigil
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Bipolar Disorder - psychology; Case-Control Studies; Clinical Research; Demography; Female; Humans; Male; Psychopathology; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 1643-3750; 1234-1010; 1643-3750
• DOI: 10.12659/MSM.893372

The aim of this study was to compare attachment styles and psychopathology in adolescent children of parents with bipolar disorder (BD) with a healthy control group. We studied 25 adolescents who had at least 1 parent with BD (BD group) and 28 adolescents who had no parents with BD (control group). The adolescent participants were between the ages of 12 and 17 years. We used the Adolescent Relationship Scales Questionnaire (A-RSQ) for the adolescents in the BD vs. control groups, and we used the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-age Children - present and lifetime version (K-SADS-PL). We used the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I), Clinician Version for each parent of adolescents in the BD and control groups to rule out psychopathologies. Attachment styles of participants were assessed according to A-RSQ, dismissing attachment style scores of adolescents in BD group were found significantly higher compared to the healthy control group (p