Attachment, Coping, and Attributional Style in Late Adolescence.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Attachment, Coping, and Attributional Style in Late Adolescence.
Language: English
Authors: Greenberger, Ellen, McLaughlin, Caitlin
Peer Reviewed: N
Page Count: 32
Publication Date: 1993
Document Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Reports - Research
Descriptors: Affective Behavior, Attachment Behavior, Child Behavior, Coping, Parent Child Relationship, Peer Relationship, Self Concept, Young Adults
Assessment and Survey Identifiers: Attribution Style Questionnaire
Abstract: This study examined the relationships of early and current attachment styles to the coping strategies late adolescents employ when faced with problems and to the attributions they make concerning their successes and failures. Subjects were 157 late adolescents, ages 18 to 22, taken from an ethnically diverse sample of university students. Subjects completed self-report measures of early attachment to parents and current attachment orientation with respect to non-parental relations. Subjects also completed Seligman's Attributional Style Questionnaire along with the COPE inventory of support seeking, planning, and acting. Correlational and multivariate analyses revealed that early parental attachments continue to exert a modest effect on adolescents' coping strategies and attributional style, but exclusively along gender lines. Greater early security of boys with their fathers was associated with a higher likelihood of turning to others for emotional and instrumental support. Greater early security of girls with their mothers was associated with a higher likelihood of seeking emotional support from others and with more self-enhancing attributions for success and failures. Findings are discussed in terms of theoretical links among coping, attributions, and working models of self and others. (MM)
Entry Date: 1994
Accession Number: ED363397
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:This study examined the relationships of early and current attachment styles to the coping strategies late adolescents employ when faced with problems and to the attributions they make concerning their successes and failures. Subjects were 157 late adolescents, ages 18 to 22, taken from an ethnically diverse sample of university students. Subjects completed self-report measures of early attachment to parents and current attachment orientation with respect to non-parental relations. Subjects also completed Seligman's Attributional Style Questionnaire along with the COPE inventory of support seeking, planning, and acting. Correlational and multivariate analyses revealed that early parental attachments continue to exert a modest effect on adolescents' coping strategies and attributional style, but exclusively along gender lines. Greater early security of boys with their fathers was associated with a higher likelihood of turning to others for emotional and instrumental support. Greater early security of girls with their mothers was associated with a higher likelihood of seeking emotional support from others and with more self-enhancing attributions for success and failures. Findings are discussed in terms of theoretical links among coping, attributions, and working models of self and others. (MM)