Document Type

Post-Print

Publication Date

2015

Subjects

Adulthood -- Psychological aspects, Social Adjustment, Maturation (Psychology)

Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate the relations among attachment, social support satisfaction, and well-being in a cross-sectional sample of emerging adults (N = 213) experiencing one or more normative life transitions. The sample represented a range of educational and vocational backgrounds. The primary hypotheses were that social support satisfaction would mediate the associations between each attachment dimension and well-being. A corresponding theoretical model was tested using structural equation modeling. The model provided an excellent fit to the sample data. Social support satisfaction mediated the association between attachment anxiety and well-being, but not the association between attachment avoidance and well-being. That is, attachment anxiety was indirectly associated with well-being through social support satisfaction, while attachment avoidance was directly associated with well-being. Alternative model testing provided mixed support for the variable ordering in the theoretical model. Implications are provided for future research and for counseling emerging adult clients experiencing transition.

Description

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in The Counseling Psychologist. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication.

A definitive version was subsequently published in 2015 in The Counseling Psychologist, Vol. 43(7) 1034–1058 and can be found online at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000015592184

DOI

10.1177/0011000015592184

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/18474

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