Perceived social support as an offshoot of attachment style☆
Section snippets
Participants
One hundred eighty-two students of Psychology or Education at the University of Lisbon (151 females, 29 males, two participants omitted their gender) volunteered to participate by completing questionnaires at the end of regular class periods. Participants were not compensated in any way, and there were no refusals. The number of individuals in specific analyses varies slightly due to missing responses. Ages ranged between 18 and 48 years, with a mean of 21.01 years. Men (M=24.03 years) were
Results
The correlation matrix for all of the main variables in the study is presented in Table 2, together with the means and standard deviations.
Discussion
Our results appear to bring some important new elements to research on adult attachment and social support. The considerable attenuation of social support effects when attachment contributions are partialled out seems to support the idea that perceived social support and its effects upon psychological distress are in reality effects of attachment security. The fact that support in casual, but not intimate, relationships remains significant is also in agreement with this theoretical prediction.
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- ☆
Previous versions of this paper have been presented at the IV Simpósio Nacional de Investigação em Psicologia (4th National Symposium on Psychological Research), Lisbon, November 1996, and at the Conference of the International Network on Personal Relationships, Oxford, Ohio, June 1997.
- 1
Present address: Hay Selecção, Portugal.
- 2
Present address: Department of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.
- 3
Present address: Instituto Superior de Ciências do Trabalho e da Empresa, Portugal.
- 4
Present address: Instituto de Emprego e Formação Profissional, Portugal.