Abstract
Although styles of self-reliance theoretically arise from early attachments, other research suggests the influence of attachment operates indirectly through internalized but modifiable beliefs about the self and others. The present study examined the relative contribution of parental attachment, social support perceptions, control beliefs, and self-monitoring in understanding workplace counterdependence, a problematic style of self-reliance reflective of avoidant attachments. Participants were 184 undergraduate students (mean age = 23.2 years) who worked an average of 29.2 hours per week. As expected, the regression analysis identified perceptions about support, explanatory beliefs, and self-monitoring skills as significant predictors of counterdependence, whereas parental attachment factors were not; collectively these significant predictors explained 41.5% of the variance. The results suggest that difficulties with workplace counterdependence may be ameliorated by interventions that target workers' perceived deficiencies in the skill-linked predictors identified in this study.
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