Attachment dimensions' capacity to predict problem behaviors in an African context

Considerable research links aspects of attachment to internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. The association is yet to be established in an African context. Canonical correlation analysis was conducted on the data of 135 primary school learners and their parents and guardians in Mankweng, a township in Polokwane, South Africa, to evaluate the avoidance and anxiety attachment dimensions' capacity to predict problem behaviors. There was a relationship between learner-reported internalizing problem behaviors and the attachment dimensions avoidance, and to some extent anxiety. Conversely, externalizing could not be predicted from the attachment patterns of the learners. The results are discussed within existing attachment and the problem behavior literature.