A Longitudinal Examination of Parental Attachment, College Adjustment, and Academic Achievement

Abstract

This study examined the connection between the parent-adult child attachment relationship, adjustment, and achievement among a sample of 168 college students and explored how the attachment relationship changed over time. Our findings indicated the attachment variables were all positively related to adjustment to college during years one and three. However, different attachment variables were positively related to GPA in years one and three, suggesting an evolution takes place in the parent-adult child relationship during college. Despite these significant correlations, regression analyses revealed that the quality of the parent-adult child relationship was the only significant predictor of adjustment during year one, and none of the variables were statistically significant predictors of adjustment during year three. As for GPA, none of the variables significantly contributed to the variance in GPA during year one, and the quality of the parent-adult child relationship was the only predictor of GPA in year three.