The Relationship between Attachment Styles, Temperament and Mental Well-Being

Attachment styles play a major role in the development of temperament and individuals’ mental well-being. The present study investigates the relationship between attachment styles, temperament and mental well-being. This research employed survey technique and samples involved in this study consisted of 325 youths who currently enrolled in a public university. The instruments used were Revised Adult Attachment Scales, Emotionality, EAS Temperament Survey and Mental Well-being Scale. Results showed that the level of mental well-being of the studied samples was relatively high. Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between attachment styles and mental well-being, however no significant relationship was found for the relationship between attachment styles and temperament. The implications of the findings are discussed.

attachment styles, temperament, mental well-being

1. Baez, T. (2005). Evidenced-based practice for anxiety disorders in college mental health. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 20(1), 33-48. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss: Separation: Anxiety, and anger (Vol. 19). New York: Basic Books. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Buss, A. H., & Plomin, R. (1984). Temperament: Early developing personality traits. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1984. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Chen, W., Zhang, D., Pan, Y., Hu, T., Liu, G., & Luo, S. (2017). Perceived social support and self-esteem as mediators of the relationship between parental attachment and life satisfaction among Chinese adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 108, 98–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.12.009. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Collins, N. L. (1996). Working models of attachment: Implications for explanation, emotion, and behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 810-832. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.71.4.810. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Collins, W. A., & Laursen, B. (2004). Changing relationships, changing youth: Interpersonal contexts of adolescent development. Journal of Early Adolescence. 24(1), 55–62. http://doi.org/10.1177/0272431603260882. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. Diamond, L. M., & Hicks, A. M. (2005). Attachment style, current relationship security, and negative emotions: The mediating role of physiological regulation. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 22, 499–518. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Fen, C. M., Isa, I., Chu, C. W., Ling, C., & Ling, S. Y. (2013). Development and validation of a mental wellbeing scale in Singapore. Psychology. 4(7). 592. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. Garlow, S. J., Rosenberg, J., Moore, J. D., Haas, A. P., Koestner, B., Hendin, H., & Nemeroff, C. B. (2008). Depression, desperation, and suicidal ideation in college students: Results from the American foundation for suicide prevention college screening project at Emory university. Depression and Anxiety, 25(6), 482-488. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. Goodwin, J., Behan, L., Kelly, P., McCarthy, K., & Horgan, A. (2016). Help-seeking behaviors and mental well-being of first year undergraduate university students. Psychiatry research, 246, 129-135. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2016.09.015. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. Gleeson, G., & Fitzgerald, A. (2014). Exploring the association between adult attachment styles in romantic relationships, perceptions of parents from childhood and relationship satisfaction. Health, 6, 1643–1661. https://doi.org/10.4236/health.2014.613196. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. Jalal, F. H., Daud, N. A., & Samad, N. A. (2015). Kesan Program Pembangunan Sahsiah Terhadap Pembentukan Karakter Pelajar. Jurnal Bitara Edisi Khas (Psikologi Kaunseling), 8. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. Khaleque, A., Shirin, A., & Uddin, M. K. (2013). Attachment relationships and psychological adjustment of married adults. Social Indicators Research, 110, 237–244. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-011-9926-2. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. Kesebir, S., Vahip, S., Akdeniz, F., & Yüncü, Z. (2005). Relation of affective temperament and clinical features in bipolar disorder. Turk Psikiyatri Derg, 16(3), 164–69. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. Kokcu, F., & Kesebir, S. (2010). The relationship between attachment style andtemperament, personality, and bipolar symptoms: a controlled study on bipolar patients and their children. Turkish Journal of Psychiatry 21(4), 309–318. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. Miller, E. J., & Chung, H. (2009). A literature review of studies of depression and treatment outcomes among U.S. college students since 1990. Psychiatric Services, 60(9), 1257- 1260. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. Saleh, Y., Rostam, K., & Hussain, M.Y. (2012). Functional Change in Small Town: Experience of Tanjong Malim, Perak. Journal of Southeast Asia Social Sciences and Humanities, 82(3). [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. Shiota, M. N., Keltner, D., & John, O. P. (2006). Positive emotion dispositions differentially associated with Big Five personality and attachment style. Journal of Positive Psychology, 1, 61–71. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439 76050 05108 33. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

19. Taylor, P., Rietzschel, J., Danquah, A., & Berry, K. (2014). Changes in attachment representations during psychological therapy. Psychotherapy Research, 25, 222–238. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2014.88679 1. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

20. Thompson, R. A. (2008). Early attachment and later development: Familiar questions, new answers. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (p. 348–365). The Guilford Press. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

21. World Health Organization. (2004). Promoting Mental Health. Concepts, Emerging Evidence, Practice. Geneva. World Health Organization. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• The Impact of Ownership Structure on Dividend Payout Policy of Listed Plantation Companies in Sri Lanka
• Urban Sustainability in North-East India: A Study through the lens of NER-SDG index
• Performance Assessment of Predictive Forecasting Techniques for Enhancing Hospital Supply Chain Efficiency in Healthcare Logistics
• The Fractured Self in Julian Barnes' Postmodern Fiction: Identity Crisis and Deflation in Metroland and the Sense of an Ending
• Impact of Flood on the Employment, Labour Productivity and Migration of Agricultural Labour in North Bihar