Relations between quality of friendships and attachment styles in adolescence

Abstract

In this work relations between quality of friendship and attachment styles among adolescents were investigated. The question of the differences, among individuals of different styles of attachment in the quality of their friendly relations, both at the individual and at the dyadic level were investigated. Also, the predictive significance of attachment when it comes to the quality of friendship, were discussed. The study included 425 subjects of both genders, first grade secondary school students, aged 14 to 17 years. Following instruments were used: Friendship Quality Questionnaire, which was created for the purposes of this study, and assesses dimensions of affection, intimacy, interaction and conflicts in friendship, and a questionnaire for assessing styles of attachment UPIPAV (Nataša Hanak).Results indicate that participants of secure and insecure attachment styles differ significantly in all dimensions of quality of friendships. Secure participants have a higher level of affection, companionship, intimacy and conflict in relation to insecure subjects. Exceptions are subjects of fearful styles of attachment who have a similar level of affection in friendship to those of secure ones. When the above differences are observed at the dyadic level, the situation is as follows: couples of friends with secure styles of attachment at all dimensions of friendship have higher scores compared to couples with insecure styles. Regression analysis showed that attachment significantly contributes to the explanation of all the dimensions of friendship. The strongest individual contribution to the explanation of all dimensions of quality friendships have secure style of attachment. The results are discussed within the attachment theory perspective.