Attachment patterns and their relationships to daily social interaction and psychological adjustment in college students.

Author: Haddad, Y.

Source:
Dirasat: Educational Sciences. 28(2), Sep 2001, 456-479.
The relationship of attachment patterns with daily social interaction and psychological adjustment was investigated utilizing a sample of 329 college students. An adapted version of Brennan and Shaver's (1995) multi-item measure of attachment patterns was employed and an adapted version of Rochester Interaction. Both were employed for collecting data on daily social interaction. Depression and social anxiety were considered as indicators of psychological adjustment. Results of analysis of variance indicate that secure attachment was associated with better social interaction in terms of quantity, and better interaction quality in terms of meaningfulness, level of self-disclosure, in terms of quantity, and better interaction quality in terms of meaningfulness, level of self-disclosure, enjoyment, and satisfaction. Insecure attachment was associated with higher levels of depression and social anxiety. Except for reporting lower levels of satisfaction with their social interactions, avoidants did not differ from anxiously attached individuals in the aspects of social interaction as was predicted--possibly due to lack of identification in the concept of avoidant attachment as measured in the present study.