Childhood vs. adolescence transitional object attachment, and its relation to mental health and parental bonding

Eytan Bachar*, Laura Canetti, Esti Galilee-Weisstub, Atara Kaplan-DeNour, Arieh Y. Shalev

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

871 participants, 375 beys and 496 girls, mean age 16.7+1, were administered the Parental Bonding Instrument (P.B.I.), the Brief Symptom Inventory (B.S.I.), the General Well-Being Questionnaire (G.W.B.) and the Chestnut Lodge Transitional Object Scale. Results supported Winnicott's theory: participants reporting attachment to a Transitional Object (T.O.) in their childhood reported significantly more optimal maternal bonding than participants who were not attached to a T.O. Participants reporting attachment to a T.O. in adolescence had significantly more psychiatric symptoms and less general well-being. Adolescence T.O. attachment might be considered a marker of mental distress in the general, normal population.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)149-167
Number of pages19
JournalChild Psychiatry and Human Development
Volume28
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1998
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Childhood vs. adolescence
  • Parental bonding
  • Psycho-pathology
  • Transitional object

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