Attachment,Social Support Satisfaction,and Well-Being During Life Transition in Emerging Adulthood

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, whereas 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.

Keywords

emerging adulthood attachment social support satisfaction well-being

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