Citation

Feder MM, Diamond GM. J. Fam. Ther. 2016; 38(1): 82-101.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1467-6427.12078

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study examines whether the strength of the parent-therapist alliance, measured during the task of alliance building with parents alone, predicted the extent of parents' attachment-promoting behaviour in the subsequent conjoint parent-adolescent attachment task in the context of attachment-based family therapy (ABFT). Nineteen suicidal and depressed adolescents and their parents received 12 weeks of ABFT. The parent-therapist alliance and parents' attachment-promoting behaviour were each measured observationally by two separate and independent groups of raters. The findings show that the strength of the parent-therapist alliance predicted parents' subsequent attachment-promoting behaviour. However, parents' attachment-promoting behaviour did not predict the post-treatment outcomes. Clinical and methodological implications are discussed. © 2016 The Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice.

Language: en

Keywords

Suicide; Adolescents; Therapy; Attachment; Alliance; Parenting behaviour