The Influence of Child and Adolescent Relational Experience on Attachment in Emerging Adulthood

Background

Historically, research has found that early caregiving interactions have the weight of influence on later adult attachment beliefs and behaviours. These findings, often based on research utilising retrospective methods (Mickelson et al., 1997) have had to be somewhat modified in light of recent longitudinal research (Fraley et al., 2013, Chopik et al., 2014) that found only small, and often inconsistent correlations between early parent-infant attachment and later adult attachment, across various ways of operationalising attachment (i.e., categorical v. dimensional) (Fraley, 2019). The implication is that early caregiving experiences play an important role in adult attachment beliefs and behaviours, but are not as influential as previously thought. Researchers are now starting to examine other factors that might contribute to adult attachment, and how such factors might interact with early caregiver attachment. Our research study is a contribution to this effort, focusing on the potential contribution of friendship experiences in adolescence to attachment experiences in emerging adulthood.

Research Questions / Hypotheses

Question 1: Does perceived attachment anxiety and/or avoidance with respect to the primary caregiver in childhood, and perceived relational experiences with a significant peer in adolescence, predict the degree to which attachment avoidance is experienced in emerging adulthood with respect to a current close peer relationship (either friend or intimate partner)?

Question 2: Does perceived attachment anxiety and/or avoidance with respect to the primary caregiver in childhood, and perceived relational experiences with a significant peer in adolescence, predict the degree to which attachment anxiety is experienced in emerging adulthood with respect to a current close peer relationship (either friend or intimate partner)?

Question 3: Are levels of depression, stress, and/or anxiety (as captured in the DASS questionnaire) significantly associated with current and retrospective perceptions of attachment anxiety and/or attachment avoidance?

Participants

(We will allow two more weeks of data collection at beginning of Semester 2 2024) 192 participants have completed the survey in full. Students under the age of 18 were excluded.

Methods

Data will be collected via an online Qualtrics survey that participants access via an anonymous link. Demographics of the sample, including gender, age, relationship background, international/domestic student enrollment status (factors to be included as potential covariates in our data analysis). Experiences of Close Relationships Scale (ECR-R; Fraley et al., 2011) will be used to capture the participants' retrospective perceptions of attachment with a significant caregiver from childhood, and for their current perceptions of attachment with respect to a significant peer (eg. friend, sibling, partner). This scale has been validated for retrospective and current use (Sibley et al., 2005) Network of Relationship Inventory – Relationship Quality Version (NRI-RQV; Furman & Buhrmester, 2010) subscales will be used to capture retrospective perceptions of experiences with participants' closest friend in adolescence. Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale – Short Form (DASS-21; Henry & Crawford, 2005) will be administered to examine whether participants' current levels of levels of depression, anxiety, stress are related to their perceptions of past and current close relationships.

Results

As we are yet to complete data collection at this time the analytic plan is to utilise standard descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. We plan to use multiple regression to examine whether retrospective perceptions of childhood attachment (avoidance and anxiety) and retrospective perceptions of relational experiences in adolescence (experiences of inclusion and exclusion) predict current attachment in emerging adulthood. We are anticipating that adolescence relational experiences will influence attachment in emerging adulthood at least equally to early caregiving interactions, if not more.

Implications

If our predicted findings as outlined above eventuate this supports current research outlining the influences beyond early caregiver interactions on adult attachment. It also supports findings that discuss the influence of more proximal relational experiences of beliefs and behaviours in relationships. It outlines that attachment is malleable, and experiences of psychosocial development that are focused on self (adolescence) and other (emerging adulthood) are highly critical periods for promoting preventative interventions of building positive relational skills, as well as targets for treating attachment injuries.