The Association between Adoption Status and Attachment Styles during the Transition to CollegeLeah M. Reisert and Katherine L. Fiori, Ph.D.

Adelphi University, Garden City, NY, USA

 

Abstract

 

Background

Results

Results, cont’d.

Aims and Hypotheses

The purposes of the present study are to determine whether adoption status is predictive of attachment styles and college transition outcomes, to test whether attachment styles mediate the association between adoption status and outcomes, and/or whether adoption status moderates the association between attachment styles and outcomes. A group of 15 college student adoptees and a comparison group of 38 college student non-adoptees were given a self-report survey measuring attachment styles and college transition outcomes. Contrary to our hypotheses, we found no significant differences between adopted and non-adopted participants in anxious or avoidant attachment, or in the college transition outcomes (adjustment, depressive symptoms, or GPA). Moreover, our prediction that anxious and avoidant attachment would be negatively associated with college adjustment (academic, personal-emotional, and social) and GPA, and positively associated with depressive symptoms, was only partially supported. Although there was no evidence of mediation, the pattern of correlations indicated some evidence of moderation. That is, attachment avoidance appeared more strongly negatively correlated with academic adjustment and attachment anxiety more strongly negatively correlated with social and emotional adjustment in non-adopted than adopted participants. It is our hope that the findings from this research will aid in the creation of support services to help adopted individuals transition smoothly to college.

Three Subscales from the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (Baker & Siryk, 1989)Anchors = 1 (Doesn’t Apply to me at all) to 9 (Applies very closely to me)

Subscales Example Item

Academic Adjustment (mean of 23 Items) = .91 “I have not been functioning well during examinations.”

Personal-Emotional Adjustment (mean of 15 Items) = .89 “I haven't been able to control my emotions very well lately.”

Social Adjustment (mean of 20 Items) = . 88 “I feel that I fit in well as part of the college environment.”

Relationship Scales Questionnaire (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991) (Total Items = 30 )Anchors = 1 (Not at all like me) to 5 (Very much like me)

Subscales Example Item

Attachment Anxiety (mean of 6 items; = .86) “I often worry that romantic partners won’t want to stay with me.”

Attachment Avoidance (mean of 6 items; = .85) “People often want me to be closer than I feel comfortable being.”

Note: Due to poor reliability scores on the RSQ’s original subscales (secure, fearful avoidant, dismissing, and preoccupied), we conducted a principal components analysis to create factors for attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance using item loadings greater than 0.45.

Adoption and Adjustment to College

There is no research that examines adopted students and their transition to college. However, there is research on children and adjustment to school. This research found that adopted children had higher psychological and school-related behavior problems than non-adopted children, as well as decreased levels of social competence and school achievement ((Brodzinsky, Schechter, Braff, & Singer, 1984).

Adoption and Attachment

Research indicates that adolescents and adults who are adopted tend to be more insecurely attached than their non-adopted counterparts (Beijersbergen, Juffer, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & van Ijzendoorn, 2012; Escobar, Pereira, & Santelices, 2014; Feeney & Passmore, 2007).

Attachment and Adjustment

Secure attachment in adopted children has been found to facilitate the development of adaptive skills (Barcons, Abrines, Brun, Sartini, & Fumado, 2012).

Freshmen with secure attachment styles were more adaptive (i.e., less reactive and with less suppressive coping) than their insecurely attached counterparts upon entering college (Lopez & Gormley, 2014).

Insecure attachment styles are notable factors predicting negative college transitions in students (Lopez & Gormley, 2014).

Aim 1: To determine whether adopted college students are at greater risk for insecure attachment styles and negative college transitions than non-adopted college students.

Hypotheses 1a and 1b: Adopted students will have higher means of anxious and avoidant attachment than non-adopted students (1a), and adopted students will have lower levels of college adjustment and GPA, and higher levels of depressive symptoms than non-adopted students (1b).

Aim 2: To investigate whether certain attachment styles are correlated with specific college transition outcomes.

Hypothesis 2: Anxious and avoidant attachment will be negatively associated with college adjustment (academic, social, and personal-emotional) and GPA, and positively associated with depressive symptoms.

Aim 3: To examine whether attachment styles mediate the association between adoption status and outcomes.

Hypothesis 3: Anxious and avoidant attachment styles will mediate the association between being adopted and negative college outcomes.

Aim 4: To determine whether adoption status could moderate the association between attachment styles and college outcomes.

Hypothesis 4: The association between attachment styles and college outcomes will vary for adopted and non-adopted individuals.

ParticipantsTotal Sample, N = 53

Age (in years) M = 20.26 (SD = 2.80)Gender 87.7% femaleCollege Status 35.8% freshmen, 13.2% sophomores, 30.2% juniors, 20.8% seniorsGPA M = 3.49 (SD = 0.62)

Non-adopted Participants, n = 38Age (in years) M = 20.37 (SD = 2.64)Gender 89.5% female College Status 23.7% freshmen, 15.8% sophomores, 34.2% juniors, 26.3% seniorsGPA M = 3.53 (SD = 0.65)

Adopted Participants, n = 15Age (in years) M = 20.00 (SD = 3.25)

Gender 86.7% female

College Status 66.7% freshmen, 6.7% sophomores, 20% juniors, 6.7% seniors

GPA M = 3.41 (SD = 0.56)

Country Adopted From 2 China, 1 Guatemala, 2 Russia, 1 Haiti, 1 India, 4 United States, 2 South Korea, 1 Lithuania, 1 Central America

Age of adoption (in months) Median = 10.00

Table 1. Mean (SD) Differences in College Adjustment, Depressive Symptoms, and Attachment in Non-adopted (n = 15) and Adopted (n = 38) Participants

Variables Non-adoptedM (SD)

AdoptedM (SD)

t df p

Academic Adjustment 6.35 (1.28) 5.85 (1.36) 1.24 51 .22Personal-Emotional Adjustment 5.00 (1.71) 4.10 (1.70) 0.01 51 .99Social Adjustment 5.77 (1.52) 5.62 (1.47) 0.33 51 .75Depressive Symptoms 0.96 (0.64) 1.14 (0.56) -0.97 51 .34Cumulative GPA 3.53 (0.65) 3.40 (0.56) 0.58 44 .57Attachment Anxiety 2.92 (1.00) 3.10 (0.68) -0.58 51 .57Attachment Avoidance 2.74 (0.87) 2.59 (0.84) 0.57 51 .57

The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977) (Total Items = 20)Anchors = 0 (Rarely) to 3 (Most or all of the time)

Example Item“I was bothered by things that don't usually bother me.”“I felt that I was just as good as other people.”“I felt fearful.”

Measures

Table 2. Overall Sample Descriptive Statistics and Pearson Correlation Matrix (N = 53)Variables M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(1) Academic Adjustment 6.21 1.31  -            (2) Personal-Emotional Adjustment 5.00 1.69  .60*** -          (3) Social Adjustment 5.72 1.50  .65*** .67*** -        (4) Depressive Symptoms 1.01 0.62 -.43** -.75*** -.64*** -      (5) Cumulative GPA 3.50 0.62 .14 -.02 .04 -.19 -    (6) Attachment Anxiety 2.96 0.92  -.39** -.42** -.40** .49*** -.00 -  (7) Attachment Avoidance 2.70 0.86 -.01 -.16 -.28* .39** -.27† .24† -†p < .10*; p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001  Table 3. Non-adopted Participant’s Descriptive Statistics and Pearson Correlation Matrix (n = 38)Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(1) Academic Adjustment -            (2) Personal-Emotional Adjustment .62*** -          (3) Social Adjustment .67*** .65*** -        (4) Depressive Symptoms -.33* -.73*** -.60*** -      (5) Cumulative GPA .09 -.04 .11 -.25 -    (6) Attachment Anxiety -.38* -.48** -.43** .56*** .01 -  (7) Attachment Avoidance -.11 -.11 -.24 .46** -.44** .29 -*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001  Table 4. Adopted Participant’s Descriptive Statistics and Pearson Correlation Matrix (n = 15)Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(1) Academic Adjustment -            (2) Personal-Emotional Adjustment .57 -          (3) Social Adjustment .62* .72** -        (4) Depressive Symptoms -.68** -.85*** -.79** -      (5) Cumulative GPA .27 .09 -.24 .16 -    (6) Attachment Anxiety -.44† -.24 -.28 .18 -.08 -  (7) Attachment Avoidance .19 -.31 -.41 .25 .34 .10 -†p < .10*; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001  

Mean score of 20 items Cronbach’s

= .90

Aim 1: Differences between adopted and non-adopted college students in attachment styles and college transitions• No significant differences • May be due to small sample size

Aim 2: Associations between attachment styles and college transition outcomes• Attachment anxiety significantly negatively associated with academic, personal-emotional, and social

adjustment, and significantly positively associated with depressive symptoms; attachment avoidance was significantly negatively associated with social adjustment only• Related to fact that avoidantly attached individuals tend to avoid social interaction due to the fear of

intimacy and discomfort with closeness and dependence (Wei, Vogel, Ku, & Zakalik, 2005)• Although anxious attachment was not associated with GPA, avoidance trended towards being negatively

associated with GPA • The anxiously attached students may be hypersensitive to the problems they are experiencing, whereas

the avoidant individuals may be denying or avoiding the reality of the problems they are facing (Wei et al., 2005)

Aim 3: Attachment styles as mediator of association between adoption status and outcomes• Because there were no group differences in outcomes or attachment, mediation was not tested

Aim 4: Adoption status as moderator of association between attachment styles and college outcomes• Pattern of correlations calculated separately for adopted and non-adopted individuals indicates some

evidence of moderation• Among adopted individuals, there were positive (but nonsignificant) correlations between attachment

avoidance and academic adjustment and GPA, whereas among non-adopted individuals the correlations were negative (although only significant with GPA)

• Among adopted individuals, associations between anxiety and personal-emotional adjustment, social adjustment and depressive symptoms (although not significant) seemed weaker compared to the non-adopted group associations (which were significant)

• Perhaps because those who have been adopted have previously dealt with a breech in attachment with their primary attachment figure, they have adaptive skills that can help them through later transitions (like the transition to college) when they are faced again with separation from an attachment figure

Considerations and Conclusions• Limitations/Future Research

• Small sample size (specifically in the adopted group)• Did not control for year in school• We hope future research with a larger sample size will test for mediation and moderation

• Implications • We hope college support programs will find our results helpful in tailoring their services to those who

are adopted and to individuals who are either anxiously or avoidantly attached.

Conclusions

Methods