Attachment and TransitionDuring major life transitions, individuals are met with new social and psychological challenges and stressors that need to be traversed (Bucx & Van Wel , 2008). It is at these times that one’s attachment pattern may play an important role in these transitions.

Adult AttachmentThere are two dimensions of attachment; anxiety related to worry about being abandoned or rejected and avoidance that is related to one’s comfort with emotional closeness. (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998).

College Student SuccessUniversity life offers students a social environment in which they will be able to experience intellectual, moral, and social-emotional exploration and as such, there are a number of new experiences that a student will need to face including psychological, ethical, and academic (Reich & Siegel, 2002).

Attachment and College Student Success During the Transition to College

Secure individuals, those with lower levels of anxiety and avoidance, are better prepared for academic (Aspelmeier & Kerns, 2003; Larose, Bernier, & Tarabulsy, 2005; Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007), psychological (Frey, Beesley, & Miller, 2006; Muris, Mayer, & Meesters, 2000; Wei, Russell, & Zakalik, 2005), and ethical (Albert & Horowitz, 2010; Mikulincer & Goodman, 2006; Van Ijzendoorn & Zwart-Woudstra, 1995) challenges that they will encounter.

HypothesisStudents’ attachment patterns will influence their academic, psychological, and ethical success during their transition to college.

Methods Discussion

The Influence of Attachment on First-Year College Student Success

Robert M. Kurland, M.A. and Harold I. Siegel, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ

ParticipantsParticipants were undergraduate students at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey (N=85). Approximately 25% were male and 75% were females. The sample was comprised of individuals belonging to various races and ethnicities including Hispanic (25.9%), Caucasian (21.2%), Asian (23.5%), African-American (9.4%), Asian - Pacific Rim (8.2%), Middle Eastern (4.7%), and individuals who classified themselves as other (7.1%).

Methods Procedure

E-mails were sent to 800 incoming freshmen who had registered university e-mail addresses. Students were invited to participate in the survey. Each participant was asked to complete a questionnaire. The entire survey took approximately 30 minutes to complete.

MaterialsThe participants completed surveys including: demographic questions, the Relationship Structure (RS) questionnaire (Fraley, Niedenthal, Marks, Brumbaugh, & Vicary, 2006) which is used to measure avoidance and anxiety of attachment, the four paragraph relationship questionnaire (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991), a 7-point Likert questionaire regarding ethical behavior (e.g., how willing would you be to cheat to help a friend, how willing would you be to cheat to get a good grade), Beck’s Anxiety Inventory (Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer, 1988), Beck’s Depression Inventory (Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961), Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), and the Academic Locus of Control Scale (Trice, 1985). Additionally, participants were asked to give permission to the experimenter to allow access to the participants academic record (including GPA, credits attempted/earned, choice of major, high school G.P.A., and SAT scores.

AcademicsConsistent with our hypothesis as well as with previous research, attachment patterns are related to academic success during the transition to college. Research has shown that securely attached individuals maintain higher feelings of competence on academic tasks, preoccupied students show more anxiety about academic performance, and dismissive students are less organized and unfocused as it pertained to academic studies (Aspelmeier & Kerns, 2003).

EthicsConsistent with our hypothesis, students who were high in attachment anxiety were more likely to say that they would engage in unethical behavior. These individuals may feel pressure to succeed to make their parents proud and therefore may be more willing to cheat to do so. In addition more anxious students tend to seek the approval of others and thus may be more willing to cheat to help another friend as they would believe that it would strengthen their relationships.

Psychological HealthThe results of this study provide support that a relationship exists between attachment and psychological health during the transition to college. Insecurely attached students report higher levels of anxiety and depression during their freshman year. These indices may place the insecure students at a disadvantage as they progress through college.

Future Research•Future research will examine students’ academic progress after the first semester and track the students through a longitudinal study and to observe other measures of academic success. •As there is little research on attachment and ethical behaviors in college, future studies will look at relationships between attachment and unethical academic college behavior (e.g., cheating, plagiarism).

Introduction ResultsAttachment and Academic Success

Individuals who were high in attachment anxiety performed worse academically in college as compared to high school (r = -.312, p = .007).

Attachment and Ethical SuccessStudents who scored high on attachment anxiety were more willing to cheat to get a good grade (r = .406, p = .000) and more willing to cheat to help a friend (r = .298, p = .008)

Attachment and Psychological Success•Students who were high on attachment anxiety scored lower on self-esteem (r = -.427, p = .000).•Students who were high in attachment avoidance and/or attachment anxiety scored lower on their academic locus of control (r = -.397, p = .001) & (r = -.310, p = .008), respectively. •Securely attached individuals were less anxious t (1,64) = 2.383, p = .020 and less depressed t (1,60)= -1.693, p = .096 than insecures

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