An exploratory investigation of family structure and adult attachment orientation

The purpose of this study was to examine the possible role family structure plays on adult attachment orientation. Eighty-six students enrolled in introductory level psychology courses at Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey, participated in this study. Indicated in previous studies as valid to measure experiences in romantic relationships, the personality traits of attachment-related Anxiety and attachment-related Avoidance were analyzed by the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised questionnaire (ECR-R). Independent t-Tests were used to determine if differences exist in young-adult participants of both the intact-families (n=66) or divorced-families (n=20) groups, as particularly measured by the attachment-related Anxiety and attachment-related Avoidance scales of the ECR-R. The researcher hypothesized that there would be a significant difference in the relationship satisfaction scores between the participants of intact and divorced families in the areas of attachment-related Anxiety and attachment-related Avoidance. Results indicated that there was no significant difference in scores on either scale between students whose parents were married and those whose parents were divorced, where students whose parents were married did not score significantly higher than students whose parents were divorced.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A. School Psychology-Professional School Psychology

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Services, Administration, and Higher Education

Year dc:date.available

2011

Author dc:creator

• Rossi, Alison

Contributors dc:contributor

• Klanderman, John
• Dihoff, Roberta

• Attachment behavior; Adult children of divorced parents
• Child Psychology
• Student Counseling and Personnel Services

Repository record dc:identifier

https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/350

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:rdw.rowan.edu:etd-1349