Relationship between paternal adult attachment and adolescent anxiety: The chain‐mediating effect of paternal psychological flexibility and father–adolescent attachment

Grounded in family systems theory and the internal working model of attachment, the present study tested the effects of paternal adult attachment, paternal psychological flexibility and father–adolescent attachment on adolescent anxiety. In total, 906 pairs of fathers and their adolescents completed a set of questionnaires, including the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale, Parental Psychological Flexibility Questionnaire, Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, and Trait Anxiety Inventory. The results revealed that paternal adult attachment avoidance had a positive impact on adolescent anxiety. The relationship between paternal adult attachment and adolescent anxiety was chain mediated by paternal psychological flexibility and father–adolescent attachment. The mediation effects contained two paths: the separate mediation effect of paternal psychological flexibility, and the chain mediation effect of paternal psychological flexibility and father–adolescent attachment. The results of the study show that the father's adult attachment can not only directly affect adolescent anxiety, but also indirectly affect adolescent anxiety through the paternal psychological flexibility and the quality of father–adolescent attachment. Fathers have an important effect on adolescent anxiety.