Adolescent Attachment and Peer Relationships: The Distinct Mediating Roles of Affective and Cognitive Empathy

While attachment security is known to foster social competence, the mechanisms linking specific attachment dimensions to adolescent peer relationships remain underexplored. This study examined whether empathic concern (affective empathy) and perspective-taking (cognitive empathy) mediated the associations between attachment avoidance and anxiety in the maternal domain and peer relationship quality. A total of 912 late adolescents (550 females) completed the Experiences in Close Relationships-Relationship Structures Questionnaire (maternal domain), the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and the Friendship Qualities Scale. Structural equation modeling showed that both attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety were negatively associated with peer relationship quality. Specifically, attachment avoidance was indirectly associated with poorer peer relationships through both lower empathic concern and lower perspective-taking. In contrast, attachment anxiety was indirectly associated with poorer peer relationships through lower empathic concern, but not through perspective-taking. These findings suggest that affective and cognitive empathy play distinct roles in linking adolescent attachment dimensions to peer relationship quality.