Investigation of the relationship between depression levels in children and attachment styles

The present study aims to investigate the relationship between the depression levels in children and their attachment styles besides the relationship with the demographical variables of these two variables. The Personal Info Form was used to investigate the socio-demographical features in the present study as a survey model. Additionally, Relation Scale Questionnaire was used to examine the attachment styles and Depression Scale for Children was used to determine the depression levels. The sample population of the present study consisted of randomly chosen 224 girls and 224 boys, 448 students in total, between the ages of 8-13 years old, in Gaziantep. Considering the study results, the secure attachment features in boys were higher compared to the girls and fearful attachment features in girls were higher compared to the boys. It was pointed out that there was not any relationship among gender, age and depression level variables in terms of demographical features. Furthermore, it was seen that as the age increased, the secure attachment features increased. The findings indicate that there are no relationship between parents' educational and income levels, and depression and attachment scores. Considering the main purpose of the study, it was pointed out that as the depression levels increased, the secure attachment features decreased. The detailed resultus of the study are found at the Discussion section. The study and its result provide recommendations to the researchers interested in the subject. Key Words : Child, Attachment, Depression