Is Parental Attachment Security Contextual? Exploring Context-Specific Child-Parent Attachment Patterns and Psychological Well-Being in Taiwanese Youths.

Abstract

Scant research to date has explored the possibility of context-specific variation in attachment security within a given relationship. In this paper, two cross-sectional studies were designed (1) to develop and validate context-specific attachment scales in Traditional-Chinese and (2) to explore variations in attachment security within a given parental relationship but between the contexts of sport and academics, relating them to global attachment patterns and indicators of psychological well-being. Results indicated that Taiwanese youth can and do perceive contextual variation within a given parental relationship. However, the relationship between such contextual variation and psychological outcomes was complex. Contextual variation may be a meaningful and useful way to explore and think about within-parent attachment fluctuation.