Attachment Styles, Parenting Styles, and Depression

Abstract

The present study aims to examine the relationship between attachment styles, parenting styles of students’ parents, and students’ depression. One hundred and twenty-two university students were selected through random sampling from a total population of 845 graduate students at Zanjan University and were given the Diana Baumrind Parenting Style and Collins and Reid Attachment Style (RAAS) questionnaires and the Beck Depression Inventory. The results of the study demonstrated a significant, negative relationship between parents’ authoritative parenting style and students’ depression; a similar pattern was also seen between secure and ambivalent parents’ attachment style and students’ depression. On the other hand, there was a positive and significant relationship between parents’ permissive and authoritarian parenting style and students’ depression. There was also a positive and significant relationship between parents’ avoidant attachment and students’ depression.