Adolescents’ Use of AI Chatbots for Emotional Support and Its Association with Perceived Parent–Child Attachment Security: A Quantitative Study

Abstract

Background: AI chatbots are becoming a cultural trend among adolescents as a type of emotional support which is not yet properly understood when it comes to family attachment mechanisms. This research examined the relationship between the use of AI chatbot by adolescents as a source of emotional support and feelings of parent child attachment security. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional study utilised the simulated data (N = 400) with the population parameters in terms of national surveys. Participants were adolescents aged 13-18 years (M = 15.49, SD = 1.69; 43.3% female). The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) total score, an AI Emotional Support Scale (0-20), UCLA Loneliness Scale, PHQ-2 depression screener were included as the measures. Hierarchical linear regression was used to analyse the data in SPSS. Results: The relationship between the use of AI chatbots as an emotional support and parent-child attachment security (β = -.978, p < .001), forecasting 95.7 percent of variance. This connection proved to be important even when demographics (β = -.970) and psychosocial covariates (β = -.755) were put in to control. Teens who reported using AI due to the reason that “family doesn’t understand” reported much lower levels of attachment security (Mean Difference = -35.98, p <.001). The adolescents (younger ones 13-15 years old) had a higher AI use and lower attachment protection in contrast to the older adolescents. Conclusions: There is a negative association between the use of AI chatbots for emotional support and parent-child attachment security. All these data suggest that AI could be utilized as figures of reparations attachment on teenagers with strained family relationships.