Gender Differences in Attachment Styles Regarding Conflict Handling Behaviors Among Turkish Late Adolescents

Abstract

This study was designed to examine gender differences in attachment styles and explore the relationship between attachment styles and preference for conflict handling behavior in close relationships among Turkish adolescents. The participants comprised 371 Turkish undergraduate students (252 females and 119 males; with a mean age of 21.98 years; standard deviation 1.18) enrolled in different departments of the Faculty of Education at Middle East Technical University in Ankara. A Turkish version of Bartholomew and Horowitz’s (J Pers Soc Psychol, 61:226–244, 1991) Relationship Questionnaire (RQ) and the Conflict Questionnaire (CQ) developed by Tezer (J Psychol, 130:281–292, 1996) were used to obtain data. Intercorrelations among four attachment style subscales, and correlation coefficients among four attachment styles and five conflict handling behaviors were computed in addition to a series of ANOVAs and ANCOVAs. Results revealed an association between attachment styles and conflict handling, as well as gender differences in attachment styles.