Cross‐Sectional and Longitudinal Examination of Attachment, Separation‐Individuation, and College Student Adjustment

Abstract

This article examined stability and change in late adolescent attachment relations and the interrelationship among attachment, separation‐individuation, and college adjustment variables. Two studies are reported. In the first cross‐sectional study, freshman and upperclassmen college students completed self‐report measures of attachment, separation, and adjustment. In the second study, students completed measures of attachment in their freshman year and 2 years later as juniors. In junior year, students also completed several measures of separation and adjustment to college. The results of both studies suggested stability in attachment to parents, over time, for both men and women. Security of attachment proved to be inversely related to independence from parents in cross‐sectional and prospective/longitudinal analyses. Security of attachment to parents was positively and pervasively associated with a variety of concurrent indexes of college student adjustment. Secure attachment assessed in freshman year also was positively associated with academic and emotional adjustment in junior year, although the longitudinal results were not as pervasive as the cross‐sectional findings. The results supported the importance of current and past perceptions of attachment for understanding late adolescent development and adjustment.