Adult attachment,social support and loneliness of Chinese college students

Abstract

Objective To explore the relationship of adult attachment with social support and loneliness of Chinese college students.Methods Relationship questionnaire (RQ) and experience of close relationships (ECR) inventory were used to measure subjects'adult attachment.Social support questionnaire comprised of objective support,subjective support and availability of social support.The UCLA loneliness scale was adopted to measure subjects'loneliness.Results ① Distribution of adult attachment style:40.1% secure subjects,27.7% dismissing,20.8% preoccupied,and 11.5% fearful.②The score of subjective support,and total score of social support were significantly higher in females than in males(t(548)=5.59,P<0.01;t(544)=3.69,P<0.01).but there was no significant differences on score of loneliness between females and males.③Subjects differing in adult attachment styles varied significantly in all indexes of social support and score ofloneliness.Secure subjects got higher scores in social support and lower score of loneliness than those insecure subjects.④Score of loneliness had significantly positive correlations with attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety (r=0.249～0.348,P<0.01),and significantly negative correlations with all indexes of social support (r=-0.258～-0.409,P<0.01).⑤ Attachment anxiety,attachment avoidance,subjective support and total score of social support all entered the regression equation for loneliness.Conclusion Adult attachment wag closely related to individual's social support and loneliness among college students. Key words: Adult attachment; Social support; Loneliness