Why are undergraduate emerging adults anxious and avoidant in their romantic relationships? The role of family relationships

PLoS One. 2019 Nov 12;14(11):e0224159. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0224159. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

The exploration of and search for romantic relationships is one of the developmental tasks that characterise emerging adulthood, a new developmental phase halfway between adolescence and full adulthood. This study aims to explore, in a Mediterranean country, the existing relationships between the subjective perception of some parental behaviour and the anxiety and avoidance dimensions of attachment during emerging adulthood. To do so, 1,502 university students (903 women and 599 men) aged between 18 and 29 (M = 20.32 and SD = 2.13) completed a self-report questionnaire. The results revealed that perceived family support and perceived parental warmth were negatively associated with the avoidance and anxiety dimensions. In contrast, perceived parental control (both behavioural and psychological) was found to be positively associated with both attachment dimensions. Perceived behavioural control was also found to play a moderator role between perceived parental warmth and romantic attachment anxiety. Only in cases in which emerging adults of our sample perceived low levels of behavioural control was warmth found to be negatively associated with anxiety. The main conclusion of this work is the negative impact that parental control seems to have on romantic attachment during emerging adulthood. The results are discussed with a focus on the continuing importance of the family context in relation to the completion of developmental tasks, even during emerging adulthood.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Anxiety / psychology*
  • Courtship / psychology*
  • Family Relations / psychology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Interpersonal Relations*
  • Male
  • Object Attachment*
  • Self Report
  • Students
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This study was supported by a grants from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, http://www.mineco.gob.es/portal/site/mineco?lang_choosen=en) EDU2013-45687-R to AP, the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, http://www.ciencia.gob.es/portal/site/MICINN/?lang_choosen=en) RTI2018-097405-B-I00 to IS-Q. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.