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Early Child- Parent Attachment and Peer Relations:

A Meta-Analysis of Recent Research
Article in Journal of Family Psychology · February 2014
DOI: 10.1037/a0035736 · Source: PubMed

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 Journal of Family Psychology © 2014 American Psychological Association
2014, Vol. 28, No. 1, 118 –123 0893-3200/14/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0035736

BRIEF REPORT

Early Child–Parent Attachment and Peer Relations:

A Meta-Analysis of Recent Research

Susanna Pallini Roberto Baiocco

University of Rome Tre Sapienza University of Rome
Barry H. Schneider Sheri Madigan
or one of its allied publishers.
the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

University of Ottawa Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto
Leslie Atkinson

Ryerson University

A central tenet of Bowlby’s attachment theory is that early child– caregiver attachment is reflected in the
quality of the child’s interpersonal relationships throughout life. Schneider, Atkinson, and Tardif (2001)
conducted a meta-analysis of studies conducted up to 1998 to corroborate that contention. They found a
significant but small to moderate effect size (r .20). Their finding that studies of friendship bonds had
by the American Psychological Association

higher effect sizes than studies of other interpersonal relationships has important theoretical ramifica-
tions. The present brief report is a meta-analysis that covers research conducted for the same purpose
since 1998. The sample consists of 44 studies with a total of 8505 participants. The overall effect size r
of .19 (adjusted r .12; 95% confidence interval, .08 –.17) in the current study was similar in magnitude
to the effect size reported in the 2001 meta-analysis, documenting consistency in the predictive power of
attachment theory. However, we failed to replicate the moderating effect of friendship. One possible
explanation for these findings is that the friendships of school-age children and adolescents no longer
invoke very high levels of intimacy. Effect sizes are higher in studies conducted outside North America
than in U.S.- and Canada-based studies.

Keywords: attachment, meta-analysis, peer relations

 Caregiver– child attachment influences the quality of close in-
Th isarticle isintend ed so lelyfor
This document is copyrighted
terpersonal relationships later in the child’s life (Bowlby, 1973).
However, the complexity of hypothesized intervening mechanisms
and their abstractness make it difficult to translate the complex
components of this theory into empirical research (Thompson &
Raikes, 2003). Perhaps the most challenging obstacle is the reality
that internal working models—mental representations of the at-
tachment bonds—are not readily amenable to empirical measure-
ment. Further, the processes linking early child– caregiver attach-ment
to behavior and relationships later in life act in interplay with
Susanna Pallini, Department of Education Sciences, University of Rome
Tre, Rome, Italy; Roberto Baiocco, Department of Developmental and
Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; Barry H.
Schneider, School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada; Sheri Madigan, Hospital for Sick Children and the Department of
Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Leslie At-
kinson, Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Susanna
Pallini, Via Milazzo 11b, 00185 Rome, Italy. E-mail: susanna.pallini@
uniroma3.it
the many changes inherent in children’s cognitive, social, and
emotional development. Undaunted by such obstacles, researchers
invested heavily in research testing the varied outcomes linked
with early attachment. Arguing for theoretical clarity, Thompson
and Raikes (2003) dispute the contention that early attachment
should necessarily be linked to all aspects of subsequent adjust-
ment. Instead, attachment might be expected to predict intimate
family and peer relationships most specifically. This contention
must be weighed against evidence that early attachment affects
humans fundamentally and even physiologically (Diamond & Fa-
gundes, 2010). This suggests a wide array of sequelae, attenuating
arguments for a narrower position.
Schneider, Atkinson, and Tardif (2001) presented a meta-analysis
of 63 studies conducted up to 1998 on effect size linking attachment
and children’s peer relations. They reported an overall effect size of r .
20. This effect size was not moderated by method used to measure
attachment. There were two important participant effects: mean effect
size was significantly larger for middle childhood versus preschool
aged children. Of considerable theoretical import, effect size was
significantly higher for outcome measures pertaining to close
friendship than for other less intimate aspects of peer relations. We
present herein a meta-analysis of
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ATTACHMENT AND PEER RELATIONS 119
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120 PALLINI, BAIOCCO, SCHNEIDER, MADIGAN, AND ATKINSON

Meta Analysis
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Received May 23, 2013

Revision received
November 27, 2013

Accepted December 5, 2013