Secure attachment with parents could prevent delinquency (Hoeve, Stams, van der Put, Dubas, van der Laan, & Gerris, 2012) and supports the resilience of adolescents (Atwool, 2006; Jenkins, 2016). Adolescents in orphanages are vulnerable to involvement in delinquency (Simsek, Erol, Oztop, & Ozcan, 2008) but they could be more resilient (Pineaar, Swanepoel, van Rensburg, & Heunis, 2011), because orphanages are unique contexts. The orphanage in Jakarta allows adolescents to go home at certain times so that significant figures for them are parents, caregivers and friends in the institution.

This study examined  the attachment to significant figures, adolescent resilience and delinquency, as well as the relationship between the three variables among adolescents in  orphanages in Jakarta. This is a quantitative and a correlational research.

The participants of this study were obtained using convenience sampling conducted at 19 orphanages in Jakarta. Participants were 403 adolescents aged 11-19 years (M = 14.88; SD = 1.93), consisting of 179 boys and 224 girls middle and high school education.

The instruments used were Children's Report of Parent Behavior Inventory (CRPBI 30) to measure attachment with the mother, father,  and caregivers.  Intimate Friendship Scale to measure attachment with friends.   Child and Youth Resilience Measure 28 (CYRM-28) to measure resilience, and Self-Report Delinquency Scale (SRDS) to measure delinquency. Socio-demographic questionnaire was used to obtain data on gender, age, education, presence of parents, and frequency of going home in a year.

The results showed that attachment to significant figures  was at a moderate level. They also had moderate level of resilience and mild delinquency. Resilience acted as a mediator  for relationship between attachment to father and delinquency (β = -0.0278, p <0.05), while the attachment with caregivers was directly and negatively correlated with delinquency without mediated by resilience (r = - 0.136, p <0.05). Attachment with mother and friend did not correlate with resilience or with delinquency.

In this study, adolescents’ attachment with significant figures   was at a moderate level. As stated by Kassamali and Rattani (2014), attachment could be established if children have the opportunity to interact positively with significant figures. This is possible because even though they live in an orphanage they still have the opportunity to go home. However, adolescents in orphanages only have the opportunity to interact with their parents on a limited basis, while in orphanages, they also could not interact optimally with caregivers because the caregivers had to be responsible for a number of children.

In contrast to the Pineaar et al’s (2011) study, participants had a moderate level of resilience. Based on the views of Ungar, Brown, Liebenberg, Cheung and Levine (2008) adolescents in this study even though living in an orphanage, they could achieve moderate resilience because they had the opportunity to get food, education, health facilities, support from significant figures, opportunities for self- development, programs for adherence to traditional and religious values  (informal interviews and observations with caregivers and participants).

In this study the level of adolescent delinquency in orphanages in Jakarta was mild, in contrast to the study of Simsek et al (2008). According to Jessor and Jessor (2014) delinquency is influenced by a combination of risk and protective factors such as role models, vulnerabilities, opportunities, risky behavior,  controls, support and protective behavior. In addition, Shader (n.d.) stated that  protective and risks factors for delinquency in adolescents, namely (1) individuals (innate factors, psychology, behavior and mental characteristics), (2) social factors (family, friends) and (3 ) community factors (school policy, neighborhood). Teenagers in this study might have more protective factors, one of which was adequate resilience, and programs and rules at the orphanage were clear and structured with good supervision (observations and informal interviews with caregivers and participants),

This study found that only attachment to fathers correlated significantly with resilience. In line with the research of Zhang, Zhao, Jud and Ma (2015) that fathers acted as mentors for children to achieve their social abilities. Resilience is one of social abilities. Attachment with caregivers was directly and negatively correlated with delinquency,  in line with Jessor and Jessor (2014) and Shader (n.d.), caregivers seem to play a role as protective factors (role models, controllers, supporters and protectors).

Keywords: significant figures, resilience, delinquency, adolescents, orphanage