PARENTAL, BONDING AND MENTAL-HEALTH IN ADOLESCENCE

Attachment between parent and child plays a crucial role in the health y development of the child. Accordingly disturbances in parental bondi ng will be linked with the development of mental disorders later in li fe. The present study examines the relationship between parental bondi ng and mental health in healthy adolescents. Participants were 847 Isr aeli high school students who completed the Parental Bonding Instrumen t (PBI), the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), the General Well-Being (GW B), the Perceived Social Support (PSS), and the Social Desirability sc ale (SDS). In general, Israeli adolescents reported more parental care and less control than did Australian adolescents and adults. Female s ubjects reported more maternal care than did males. Subjects who repor ted high care and low control (optimal bonding) reported less distress , better general well-being and better social support than did all oth er groups. In contrast, those who reported low care and high control ( affectionless control bonding) had the highest BSI scores and the lowe st GWB and PSS scores. These results are in line with Bowlby's theory of attachment. They also show that specific configuration of parental bonding are linked with distress and isolation in adolescents.