Attachment security is a cornerstone of social development because it provides the child with autonomy, self-confidence and other emotional and social tool needed to develop relationship with in the social world. In other words, Bowlby (1988) suggested that when the children develop a secure attachment to their primary caregiver, they develop an internal working model and sense of self that serves as guide for social interaction and contribute to positive experiences in their relationship with other.

This study examined that whether parents’ attachment exerts solely direct effected on adolescents’ happiness (i.e., school happiness) or whether these effects were mediated through the positive and negative experiences in the school (PNE). The direct paths suggest that secure attachment relationships with parents promote feelings of happiness. However, the indirect paths proposed that parent attachment had indirect influences on happiness through PNE. Secure attachments with parent likely foster high levels satisfaction of PNE, which in turn have been linked with high levels of happiness in the school.

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, 427–454. Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development. New York: Basic Book. Ivens, J. (2007). The development of a happiness measure for schoolchildren. Educational Psychology in Practice, 23(3), 221-239. Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov, W., Kim-Prieto, C., Choi. D., Oishi, S., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2009). New measures of well-being: Flourishing and positive and negative feelings. Social Indicators Research, 39, 247-266