The relationships between parental attachment, peer attachment, automatic thoughts, and mindfulness skills among Iranian adolescents

Abstract

Abstract This study aimed to examine the relationship between parental attachment, peer attachments, and automatic thoughts with adolescent mindfulness skills in Iranian adolescents, drawing on internal working models and social cognitive theory. The data was collected from a sample of Iranian adolescents in Tehran using standardized measurement instruments previously developed by researchers. The collected data was analyzed using both simple and multiple regression analyses. The results revealed a positive and significant association between parental attachment and peer attachments with adolescent mindfulness skills. Conversely, automatic thoughts were found to have a negative impact on adolescent mindfulness skills. These findings suggest that strengthening attachments can contribute to the enhancement of mindfulness skills in adolescents, while addressing automatic thoughts is crucial in preventing the erosion of mindfulness skills. Consequently, experts can design interventions that focus on improving attachments and addressing automatic thoughts to promote adolescent mindfulness skills.