Parental Attachment and Mental Health in College Students: The Moderating Role of Self-Control

Madison Johnston*, Rebekah L. Damitz and Nicholas A. Turiano, Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506

Field (Broad Category): Psychology (Behavioral & Social Sciences) 

Student’s Major: Psychology 

High quality relationships with parents are crucial for children to develop early in life to reduce risk for increased substance use, stress, anxiety, and academic struggles. Thus, in the current study, maternal and paternal attachment were examined in their prediction of mental health functioning prior to starting college, hypothesizing that higher levels of anxious and avoidant attachment with parents would be associated with higher levels of depression and anxiety, and lower levels of happiness. Additionally, it was hypothesized that having a strong sense of self-control would moderate the negative effects anxious and avoidant attachment would have on mental health. We utilized data from 579 first-time freshmen that participated in the College Student Transition Study conducted at a large public university in the Appalachian region of the United States. Data were collected in August prior to students’ arrival on campus. A series of multiple linear regression models was conducted and found that higher levels of anxious attachment predicted increased levels of depression (b = 1.43, p < .05) and higher levels of self-control predicted lower levels of depression (b = 4.51, p < .05), stress (b = -3.14, p < .01) and higher happiness (b = 0.39, p < .05). Moreover, we found that self-control moderated the attachment-depression association such that at high levels of anxious attachment, if someone endorsed high self-control, they did not experience increased depression, showing support for our hypotheses. This may indicate that the ability to self-regulate can promote resilience to adverse experiences. 

Funding: National Institute of General Medical Sciences 

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) & accompanying HONR 297-level course