Attachment styles, social skills and loneliness in young adults

A total of 183 university students completed measures of attachment, social and emotional loneliness, and social skills. Results indicate that secure attachment and social skills are related on several significant dimensions. Other findings reveal that attachment security and social skills are signi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality and individual differences 2003-07, Vol.35 (2), p.303-312
Main Authors: DiTommaso, Enrico, Brannen-McNulty, Cyndi, Ross, Lynda, Burgess, Melissa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affectivity. Emotion
Attachment
Attachment style
Biological and medical sciences
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Loneliness
Personality. Affectivity
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Social skills
Young adults
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A total of 183 university students completed measures of attachment, social and emotional loneliness, and social skills. Results indicate that secure attachment and social skills are related on several significant dimensions. Other findings reveal that attachment security and social skills are significantly related to loneliness, representing a replication and extension of previous research (Riggio, Throckmorton, & DePaola, 1990). These results lend support to the notion that securely attached individuals are socially skilled, and that social competence is related to lower perceived levels of loneliness. Finally, regression analyses indicated that the link between secure and fearful attachment, and social loneliness was mediated, in part, by social skills. It is suggested that attachment theory may provide a useful framework for the study of social competence and adjustment.
ISSN:0191-8869
1873-3549
DOI:10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00190-3