Attachment and College Academic Success: A Four-Year Longitudinal

Study

Robert M. Kurland, Associate Dean of Student AffairsDr. Harold I. Siegel, Chair and Professor of Psychology

Rutgers University – Newark, NJ

October 27, 2011

Defining Adult Attachment

(Fraley, Waller, & Brennan. 2000)

(Model of self)

(Model of others)

+

+

-

-

Background Love and Work: An Attachment Theoretical Perspective

(Hazan & Shaver, 1990) Secure:

do not worry about failure or feel unappreciated work does not interfere with friendships take enjoyable vacations

Anxious: worry about work performance feel underappreciated fear rejection for poor performances are easily distracted have trouble completing projects tend to slack off after receiving praise.

Avoidant: prefer to work alone use work to avoid socializing do not have enjoyable vacations from work.

College Student Success

How to measure academic success?

GPA Credit load and completion Retention Graduation

Attachment and College Student Academic Success

How to improve college students’ academic success

Can Attachment Theory serve as a framework for college student academic success?

Previous Research Secure children at 18 months were more enthusiastic, persistent,

cooperative, and, in general, more effective than insecurely attached infants (Matas, Arend, & Sroufe, 1978)

Secure children aged 1½ through 5½ paid more attention to readings than anxiously attached children (Bus & Van Ijzendoorn, 1988)

Secure children at 7 years old children were better with deductive reasoning as compared to insecure children (Jacobsen & Hofmann,1994)

Avoidant and ambivalent toddlers explored less and were less involved in school and academic related tasks and activities (Matas et. al., 1978)

Ambivalent children were more concerned with focusing on the teacher’s physical proximity and attachment availability than they were on academic tasks and activities (Cassidy & Berlin, 1994)

Attachment and Academic Success

Academically successful students need (Mikulincer &Shaver, 2007):

Constructive ways of coping with frustrations and failures

optimistic expectations of academic success

positive attitude toward learning andproblem solving

Research has shown that secure individuals:

handle stress better (Salas, Driskell, & Hughes, 1996)

have high levels of self-confidence (Mattanh, Hancock, & Brand, 2004)

Have better academic competency (Fass & Tubman, 2002)

Study 1 – Attachment and Academic Success during the transition to

College 84 Rutgers-Newark college freshmen (class of 2011) Consent to access academic records Survey questions used to measure:

Attachment (Fraley, Niedenthal, Marks, Brumbaugh, & Vicary, 2006; Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991)

Ethical behavior (7-point Likert scale) Anxiety (Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer, 1988) Depression (Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh,

1962) Self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1965) Academic Locus of Control (Trice, 1985) Student life, student activities (7-point Likert scale)

Attachment and Academic Success in High School

↑ Avoidance ↓ High School GPA r = -.269, p = .021

↑ Anxiety…

↓ SAT r = -.262, p = .024

Attachment and Academic Success during transition

Student who were high in attachment anxiety performed worse academically in college as compared to high school (r = -.312, p

= .007)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 70

1

2

3

Attachment anxiety

(HS

GPA

- C

olle

ge G

PA)

Attachment and Academic Success - first semester

Avoidant Non-avoidant14.2

14.4

14.6

14.8

15

15.2

15.4

15.6

15.8

16

16.2

Attachment avoidance and credits attempted

total degree credits

t (1,72) = 2.626, p = .011

*

Study 2: Longitudinal study on attachment and academic success

84 Rutgers-Newark college freshmen (class of 2011)

During their first year (AY 07-08) completed survey including:

ECR – anxiety and avoidant scores Relationship Questionnaire

Consent to access academic records 25 minutes to complete

Attachment styles and cumulative GPA

*

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 82.600

2.700

2.800

2.900

3.000

3.100

3.200

3.300

3.400

3.500

Secure

Insecure

Semester of enrollment

Cum

ulat

ive

GPA

* ** * *

Attachment security and retention

Attachment avoidance and total degree credits earned

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 810.00

30.00

50.00

70.00

90.00

110.00

130.00

non-avoidant

avoidant

Semesters of Enrollment

Tota

l ear

ned

cred

its

**

Attachment avoidance and retention

*

Regression Analysis

.391*

.013

.273* R2 = .208

AttachmentSecurity

High SchoolGPA

Gender 4-year Cum GPA

Attachment and 4-year Graduation Rate

secure insecure Rutgers - Newark0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

40.00%

45.00%

50.00%

Gra

duat

ion

Rat

e (%

)

*

Discussion Results show secure students have higher GPA’s,

are retained better, and graduate earlier

secure students showed better learning dispositions (Larose, Bernier, & Tarabulsy, 2005)

Individuals with secure attachment to both parents and peers had significantly higher GPA’s (Fass & Tubman, 2002)

Future/Current Research Examine the influence of two specific variables

that may mediate or moderate the relationship between attachment and academic success in the classroom

Self-efficacy (Cutrona, Cole, Colangelo, Assouline, & Russell, 1994)

Procrastination (Hazen & Shaver, 1990)

Dr. Harold I. SiegelAttachment Lab:

Dan DePauloRaelene JoranAllyson MeloniKatie Alexander

Dr. Connie WibrowskiWriting ProgramEOFStudent Life and LeadershipShelley C. Kurland, et al.

Thanks