Ungdomar i styvfamiljer. Anknytningsmönster och självuppfattning.

Sammanfattning: Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate adolescents’ experiences of living in a stepfamily. We explored attachment related thoughts and feelings and their association to self - perception. Participants in the study were teenagers between 11- 19 years old who had lived with their stepfamily for a minimum of four years. Half of the participants had an ongoing contact with the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Social Services (clinical group) while the remaining participants had no such contact (non-clinical group). A standardized attachment interview (FFI) and a self- perception form (What I am like) was used to classify the attachment patterns and to estimate perceived self-perception. Results showed significant differences between the secure and insecure group in regards to experiencing the mother as a secure base. Adolescents with secure attachment representations also differed significantly from those with insecure attachment representations regarding self-reported competences within the domains behavioral conduct and close friendships. Associations were also found between participants’ experiences of mother as secure base and their self-reported competences within the domains of scholastic competence, behavioral conduct and close friendships. All participants, independently of secure or insecure attachment, did not convey experiencing the father or the step parents as sources of secure base.