Project 458670

The prevalence of mental health problems in Canadian youth has surged in the past decade, making youth mental health an urgent public health priority. Secure youth-parent relationships buffer teens from risk. Preliminary evidence suggests that youth whose parents are better able to regulate their emotions are more securely attached, while youth of parents with emotion regulation (ER) difficulties have greater mental health problems. However, it is unknown whether strengthening parent ER improves youth attachment security and mental health. Emerging research shows that reductions in attachment anxiety and avoidance predict reductions in internalizing and externalizing symptoms, respectively. Yet it is unclear whether reductions in specific parental ER difficulties differentially predict changes in dimensions of youth attachment security and psychopathology. This study will examine the impact of a trauma-informed and attachment focused parenting intervention (Connect) on parental ER, youth attachment security, and youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms in over 800 families over 18 months. I hypothesize that (1) ER difficulties will decrease among parents completing Connect; (2) reductions parent emotion dysregulation will predict reductions in attachment anxiety, which will predict reductions in internalizing symptoms; (3) reductions in parental emotion suppression will predict reductions in attachment avoidance, which will predict reductions in externalizing symptoms. I will explore whether the effects are consistent across age, gender, and symptom severity, and test the hypotheses using parent report data and youth self-report data. Completers and intent-to-treat analyses will be performed. This project will generate new evidence about the impact of a trauma-informed and attachment-based intervention on parents and youth with respect to key mechanisms of change and offer insight into how to refine treatments to best meet the needs of parents and youth.