Date

1-2016

Department

Counseling Department

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Chair

Jeanne Brooks

Keywords

Attachment, Depression, Internal Working Models, Safe Haven, Secure Base

Disciplines

Christianity | Counseling | Counselor Education | Education | Other Education | Other Religion

Abstract

This thesis contains a description of a study that examined the relationships between parent attachment, God attachment, and depression in adolescent Christians. It was predicted that secure parent and God attachment are related, and that they will have positive effects on depression and that God attachment will mediate the effects of parent attachments on depression. The study was a cross-sectional correlation study that employed 75 adolescents in youth ministries in North-east Jersey. Depression and attachment measures were administered and the results were analyzed using hierarchical and simultaneous multiple regression, and Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient. The study findings demonstrated that parent attachment and God attachment have a tendency to offer protection against depression in adolescent Christians, and that parent attachment is related to God attachment through the correspondence or the compensatory pathway. The hypothesis stipulating God attachment as a mediator was not supported.

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