Development and Aging
Is middle childhood attachment related to social functioning in young adulthood?
Mari Fransson,
Pehr Granqvist,
Carin Marciszko,
Berit Hagekull,
Gunilla Bohlin,
Corresponding Author
Mari Fransson
Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Mari Fransson, Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Box 1225, SE-751 42 Uppsala, Sweden. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorPehr Granqvist
Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Search for more papers by this authorCarin Marciszko
Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Search for more papers by this authorBerit Hagekull
Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Search for more papers by this authorGunilla Bohlin
Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Search for more papers by this author
Mari Fransson,
Pehr Granqvist,
Carin Marciszko,
Berit Hagekull,
Gunilla Bohlin,
Corresponding Author
Mari Fransson
Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Mari Fransson, Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Box 1225, SE-751 42 Uppsala, Sweden. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorPehr Granqvist
Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Search for more papers by this authorCarin Marciszko
Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Search for more papers by this authorBerit Hagekull
Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Search for more papers by this authorGunilla Bohlin
Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
The aim of the present study (N = 69) was to examine whether middle childhood attachment, measured using the Separation Anxiety Test (Slough, Goyette & Greenberg, 1988), predicts aspects of social functioning (social initiative, prosocial orientation, social anxiety, loneliness) in young adulthood. Insecurity-avoidance at age 8.5 years was, as expected, negatively related to social initiative and prosocial orientation, and was also positively related to social anxiety and loneliness at age 21 years. In addition, insecurity-avoidance contributed to developmental change in social anxiety from middle childhood to young adulthood. Contrary to our expectations, the two security scales were generally unrelated to future social functioning. Taken together, these results extend previous research by showing that insecurity-avoidance is related to social functioning also beyond childhood and adolescence, and that it contributes to developmental change in social functioning over time. The scarcity of prospective links for the attachment security scales points to the need for future studies addressing when and why attachment does not contribute to future social functioning.
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