Perceived social support as an offshoot of attachment style

doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00085-5

Personality and Individual Differences

Volume 34, Issue 3, February 2003, Pages 485-501

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00085-5 Get rights and content

Abstract

Questionnaires were completed by college students (N=182), with the purpose of examining the role of adult attachment and social support as predictors of psychological distress. Factor analyses of the attachment and social support measures yielded three factors for attachment (Preoccupation, Avoidance, Dismissiveness), and two for social support (Intimate, Casual). Both types of support were significant zero-order predictors of distress, but intimate support effects were rendered non-significant when attachment style was controlled for. In contrast, attachment style (Preoccupation) exerted a significant additional effect after social support was controlled for. Analyses of interactions suggested that Preoccupation reduces the effect of Intimate Support, while Avoidance enhances the effect of Casual Support. These results support the hypothesis that perceived social support, and particularly Intimate Support is, to a large extent, a by-product of attachment style, but also point towards possible moderator effects of attachment style upon the impact of support.

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.

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Perceived social support as an offshoot of attachment style☆

Abstract

Section snippets

Participants

Results

Discussion

Personality and Individual Differences

Patterns of attachment: a psychological study of the strange situation

The moderator–mediator distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Distinctions between social support concepts, measures, and models

American Journal of Community Psychology

Preliminary development of a scale of social support: studies on college students

American Journal of Community Psychology

Avoidance of intimacy: an attachment perspective

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

Attachment styles among young adults: a test of a four-category model

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Attachment and perceived social support in late adolescence: the interaction between working models of self and others

Journal of Adolescent Research

Applying cluster analysis in counseling psychology research

Journal of Counseling Psychology

Attachment and loss: Vol. 2. Separation, anxiety and anger

Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment

Attachment and loss: Vol. 3. Loss, sadness and depression

Self-report measurement of adult romantic attachment: an integrative overview

Dimensions of adult attachment, affect regulation, and romantic relationship functioning

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Social class and psychiatric disturbance among women in an urban population

Sociology

The relationship between attachment cognitions and psychological adjustment in late adolescent women

Development and Psychopathology

Depression, working models of others, and relationship functioning

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis

Psychological Bulletin

A safe haven: an attachment theory perspective on support seeking and caregiving in intimate relationships

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Adult attachment, working models, and relationship quality in dating couples

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Attachment styles, emotion regulation, and adjustment in adolescence

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Interpolating 95th percentile eigenvalues from random data: an empirical example

Educational and Psychological Measurement

The provisions of social relationships and adaptation to stress

Why does attachment style change?

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Relationship-specific and global perceptions of social support: associations with well-being and attachment

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

The Brief Symptom Inventory: an introductory report

Psychological Medicine

Causal inference in the study of social support

Effect of adult attachment and presence of romantic partners on physiological responses to stress

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Adult attachment patterns: a test of the typological model

The dynamics of transference

Models of self and other: fundamental dimensions underlying measures of adult attachment

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Stress, culture, and community: the psychology and philosophy of stress

Interaction effects in multiple regression