This study investigated how attachment and perceptions of parent’s verbal parenting are related to emotional stability for adolescents in Taiwan. The sample comprised 537 junior high school students in Taipei. The instruments used in this study were Inventory of My Experience, Inventory of My Family Experience, and Inventory of My Life. Data obtained in this study were analyzed with t-test, multiple regression analysis and two-way analysis of variance.

　　The results indicated that, when father-daughter attachment was controlled by statistics, the relationship between father-daughter communication and daughter’s emotional stability had a significant negative correlation. Our results also confirmed the general consensus that the secure attachment between parents and adolescents, as well as perceptions of positive verbal parenting among adolescents, are beneficial to the emotional stability of adolescents. The results indicated significant gender differences in the attachment relationship between adolescents and fathers, with sons having a more secure sense of attachment with fathers than daughters did. However, no significant gender differences existed for the attachment relationship between adolescents and mothers, the perceptions among adolescents of verbal parenting from mothers, the perception among adolescents of verbal parenting from fathers, and the emotional stability of adolescents. Moreover, when the attachment between fathers and daughters was secure, the emotional stability of daughters did not show any difference whether or not fathers used positive verbal parenting. However, when the attachment between fathers and daughters was insecure, positive verbal parenting from fathers benefited the emotional stability of daughters. Finally, some specific implications of this study for the design and providing of counseling services to adolescents and their parents are proposed, and some suggestions for future research are also made.