Attachment Styles and Nomophobia in Young Adults: The Mediating Role of Mindful Awareness

Abstract

The present study investigated the relationships among attachment style, mindful awareness and nomophobia in university students. The study hypothesized that attachment style and mindful awareness are likely to predict nomophobia in university students; and mindful awareness is likely to mediate the relationship between attachment styles and nomophobia. With the help of cross-sectional research design and non-probability purposive sampling technique, a sample of 208 young adults was selected. Data was collected through Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ; Van Oudenhoven et al., 2003), Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MASS; Brown & Ryan, 2003) and Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP- Q; Yildirim & Correia, 2015). To analyze the data, SPSS and AMOS software were used. It was showed by Pearson Product Moment Correlation that secure attachment style had positive association with nomophobia and mindful awareness. Fearful and preoccupied attachment styles had negative association with mindful awareness and both are positively related to nomophobia. Analysis showed that secure, fearful, and preoccupied attachment styles were positively predicting nomophobia. Secure attachment style was positively predicting mindful awareness but fearful and preoccupied attachment styles were negatively predicting mindful awareness. Furthermore, mediation analysis showed that mindful awareness was significantly mediating the relationsship between attachment style and nomophobia. It was concluded that mindfulness could be helpful in the management of nomophobia.