Adjustment Factors of Attachment, Hope, and Motivation in Emerging Adult Well-Being

Abstract

We studied direct and indirect associations of attachment, trait hope, and motivations in narrative identity (agency and communion) with measures of well-being during emerging adulthood. Our aim was to determine whether hope and expressed motivations serve as mechanisms between attachment and well-being. We focused on emerging adults, for whom attachment, character, and narrative identity are well-developed and salient for developmental challenges of identity development and clarity for one’s life direction. In Study 1, college- and community-recruited adults (N = 366) wrote autobiographical narratives about future goals and self-reported attachment, hope, and well-being. Results supported indirect effects between attachment and outcomes of future goal agency and well-being via hope, as well as an indirect effect between hope and the outcome of personal growth via future goal agency. In Study 2, college adults (N = 288) wrote autobiographical narratives of their college transition experiences and self-reported attachment, hope, and well-being. Results supported indirect effects between attachment and outcomes of college transition communion and measures of well-being via hope, as well as an indirect effect between hope and the outcome of recent stress via college transition communion. Findings suggest the importance of hope as a mechanism linking emerging adults’ attachment with well-being. Findings also suggest benefits to quantifying autobiographical narratives alongside self-reports to inform well-being across adult development.