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Parent Attachment Questionnaire for Older Adolescents3

Parent Attachment Questionnaire for Older Adolescents Test

Designed for reflecting on an older adolescent's relationship with the mother, the Parent Attachment Questionnaire for Older Adolescents Test takes about 2 minutes and contains 10 questions. Its result highlights patterns of secure, avoidant, or anxious attachment, offering a concise profile to support reflection on closeness, support, autonomy, and maternal consistency.

Questions: 102 minutes

Parent Attachment Questionnaire: situation and reply bubbles

October 2, 2025October 2, 2025Material has been updatedOctober 2, 2025Material has been published

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2,655 completions

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Daniel Hall Psychologist · Test reviewer

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Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

AvoidantA

Measures the degree of emotional distancing and reduced positive engagement toward a parent, often alongside a tendency to keep interactions less emotionally close.

example score2/10

2/10Low avoidantexample score

0 – 3Low avoidant

4 – 6Moderate avoidant

7 – 10High avoidant

A score of 2 falls in the Low avoidant range, suggesting relatively little tendency to distance from the parent and generally more openness to connection.

AnxiousA

Measures the degree of anxious-ambivalent attachment toward a parent, reflecting worry about availability and reassurance-seeking in the relationship.

example score5/10

5/10Moderateexample score

0 – 3Low

4 – 6Moderate

7 – 10High

A score of 5 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting a noticeable but not extreme tendency toward worry about parental responsiveness and needing reassurance.

SecureS

Measures the degree of secure (reliable) attachment to parents, reflected in perceived support, autonomy encouragement, and consistency in the relationship.

example score4/10

4/10Moderate reliabilityexample score

0 – 3Low reliability

4 – 6Moderate reliability

7 – 10High reliability

A score of 4 suggests a moderate level of reliable attachment, indicating some perceived support and consistency alongside areas where the bond may feel less steady.

just completed the test

DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

School psychologists and counselors

41%OF USERS

They use it as a quick screen to understand a teen’s attachment patterns with each parent and guide support at school.

Family therapists and clinicians

34%OF USERS

They administer it in intake or sessions to identify anxious, avoidant, or secure dynamics and tailor treatment plans.

Parents of older teens

25%OF USERS

They take it to clarify how their teen experiences closeness, support, and conflict with mom versus dad.

BASED ON AGGREGATED, ANONYMIZED DATA FROM TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FREUDLY USERS.

Benchmarking

See How You Compare

Once you complete the test, your results are compared with real-world data from people in your country.
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.

Shaded area — where most people score

Dot — the average

You — your score lands on each curve after the test— your score, after the test

AvoidantA

You?

Average6.8

Typical rangeTypical5.2 – 8.4

Possible0 – 10

AnxiousA

You?

Average4.3

Typical rangeTypical2.8 – 5.7

Possible0 – 10

ReliableR

You?

Average4.8

Typical rangeTypical3.5 – 6.2

Possible0 – 10

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

Please select one statement from each set of three that best describes your relationship with your mother. Only one statement may be selected from each set. If you have difficulty choosing, respond based on what is true in most situations.

- My mother supports and approves of my own decisions.
- My mother lets me make my own decisions and does not take an interest in them.
- My mother sometimes strongly controls my decisions and at other times hardly controls them; I often cannot understand why.
- My mother values and respects my personal goals and interests.
- My mother is skeptical about my personal goals and interests.
- My mother has very little understanding of my goals and interests.
- unstable.
- distant.
- close.

These are 3 of the 10 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

Parent Attachment Questionnaire for Older Adolescents Test - Description and methodology of the test

attachment

family

Readers who want to understand how an older adolescent experiences a relationship with the mother can use this parent-adolescent relationship assessment to organize observations about closeness, help, independence, and consistency. The Parent Attachment Questionnaire for Older Adolescents Test presents a profile rather than a single global judgment. It focuses on recurring expectations and interactions, giving families, educators, or counselors a clearer starting point for discussing support and emotional connection.

What This Assessment Explores

Items address maternal love, help, advice, privacy, control, emotional sharing, and consistency. They show whether support is dependable, autonomy respected, and involvement distant, hostile, intrusive, or unpredictable. This adolescent attachment assessment focuses on relationship experiences, not identity.

The result profile shows three dimensions:

Avoidant (0-10) measures reduced positive maternal interest and increased maternal hostility, distinguishing it from secure attachment; bands: Low avoidant 0-3, Moderate avoidant 4-6, and High avoidant 7-10.
Anxious (0-10) measures greater maternal directiveness, low positive involvement, high hostility, and inconsistency; bands: Low 0-3, Moderate 4-6, and High 7-10.
Secure (0-10) measures secure attachment to the mother through positive involvement, support for autonomy, consistent parenting, low hostility, and minimal inconsistency; bands: Low reliability 0-3, Moderate reliability 4-6, and High reliability 7-10.

Together, the profile indicates which tendencies are more prominent in the respondent's account.

Methodology and Scientific Basis

Each item gives a statement or contrasting description of the relationship. The respondent selects the option that best fits experiences of support, independence, emotional sharing, advice, and maternal involvement. This self-report format covers varied situations without requiring a label.

The questionnaire displays three scale scores. It does not state the option weights or reverse-scoring rules, so the scores function as profile indicators. Its displayed bands are the low, moderate, and high result categories.

Vivona (2000) is the closest published comparison for attachment relationships in late adolescence and adjustment. Armsden and Greenberg (1987) offer a parental and peer attachment framework involving communication, trust, and alienation. The questionnaire is conceptually consistent with these works, but is not established as either source instrument or a validated adaptation of them.

That distinction matters when interpreting parent-child attachment patterns. Results may reflect current mood, remembered interactions, self-awareness, or a wish to present the relationship favorably. Use them to organize reflection and conversation; broader contextual or professional assessment is needed to draw conclusions about family functioning.

Author: G. C. Armsden, M. T. Greenberg

Literature:

Vivona, J. M. (2000). Parental attachment styles of late adolescents: Qualities of attachment relationships and consequences for adjustment. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 47(3), 316-329. 10.1037/0022-0167.47.3.316
Armsden, G. C., & Greenberg, M. T. (1987). The inventory of parent and peer attachment: Individual differences and their relationship to psychological well-being in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 16(5), 427-454. 10.1007/BF02202939

Updated: 2025-10-02