Does attachment style predict quality of life in youth? A cross-sectional study in Iran
The attachment can be considered as a specific behavioral pat tern that is critical to healthy growth in most communities. Medical students are exposed to high levels of psychological stress while being equipped with lower levels of resilience. This study aims to determine the relationship between attachment style and the quality of life of medical students. In this cross-sectional correlational study, 150 students of Iranshahr University of Medical Sciences in 2018 were selected based on convenience sampling with consideration of inclusion criteria. Revised AdultAttachment Scale (RAAS) and Quality of life questionnaire (SF 36) were used as data gathering scale. The data were analyzed with SPSS ver.19 using the Pearson correlation coefficient and lin ear regression. The participants’ mean quality of life score was 74.2 ± 16.7. In attachment style, 48.7% of the participants had secure attachment, 26.0% avoidant attachment, and 25.0% ambivalent attachment. The results of this study indicated a signif icant direct correlation between the quality of life scores and secure attachment style (p value <0.000). Also, there was a signif icant inverse correlation between the quality of life score and ambivalent attachment style (p value <0.000). Attachment style predicted students’ quality of life. Moreover, the role of Attachment style highlighted potential areas for intervention to improve medical student well-being and provide a foundation for longitudinal follow-up.
1. Addington-Hall, J., & Kalra, L. (2001). Who should measure quality of life? Bmj, 322(7299), 1417-1420.
2. Barron, L.W. (2007). Effect of religious coping skills training with group cognitive-behavioral therapy for treatment of depression: ProQuest.
3. Basharpoor, S., Narimani, M., & Atadokht, A. (2015). The role of attachment styles in the prediction of posttraumatic stress disorder in emergency nurses. Iran J Crit Care Nurs, 7(4), 237-244.
4. Bodner, E., & Cohen-Fridel, S. (2010). Relations between attachment styles, ageism and quality of life in late life. International Psychogeriatrics, 22(8), 1353-1361.
5. Boeckers, A., Brinkmann, A., Jerg-Bretzke, L., Lamp, C., Traue, H.C., & Boeckers, T.M. (2010). How can we deal with mental distress in the dissection room?—An evaluation of the need for psychological support. Annals of Anatomy-Anatomischer Anzeiger, 192(6), 366-372.
6. Brumbaugh, C.C., & Fraley, R.C. (2006). Transference and attachment: How do attachment patterns get carried forward from one relationship to the next? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(4), 552-560.
7. Ciechanowski, P.S., Russo, J.E., Katon, W.J., & Walker, E.A. (2004). Attachment theory in health care: the influence of relationship style on medical students’ specialty choice. Medical education, 38(3), 262-270.
8. Ciechanowski, P.S., Worley, L.L., Russo, J.E., & Katon, W.J. (2006). Using relationship styles based on attachment theory to improve understanding of specialty choice in medicine. BMC medical education, 6(1), 3.
9. Craig, A., Blumgart, E., & Tran, Y. (2009). The impact of stuttering on the quality of life in adults who stutter. Journal of fluency disorders, 34(2), 61-71.
10. Dyrbye, L., & Shanafelt, T. (2016). A narrative review on burnout experienced by medical students and residents. Medical education, 50(1), 132-149.
11. Fayers, P.M., & Machin, D. (2013). Quality of life: the assessment, analysis and interpretation of patient-reported outcomes: John Wiley & Sons.
12. Hart, J., & Howard, R.M. (2016). I want her to want me: Sexual misperception as a function of heterosexual men’s romantic attachment style. Personality and Individual differences, 92, 97-103.
13. Karreman, A., & Vingerhoets, A.J. (2012). Attachment and well-being: The mediating role of emotion regulation and resilience. Personality and Individual differences, 53(7), 821-826.
14. Kaya, N. (2012). Effect of attachment styles of individuals discharged from an intensive care unit on intensive care experience. Journal of critical care, 27(1), 103. e107-103. e114.
15. Klassen, A.F., Miller, A., & Fine, S. (2004). Health-related quality of life in children and adolescents who have a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Pediatrics, 114(5), e541-e547.
16. Kor, A., Mikulincer, M., & Pirutinsky, S. (2012). Family functioning among returnees to Orthodox Judaism in Israel. Journal of Family Psychology, 26(1), 149.
17. Marsa-Sambola, F., Williams, J., Muldoon, J., Lawrence, A., Connor, M., & Currie, C. (2017). Quality of life and adolescents’ communication with their significant others (mother, father, and best friend): The mediating effect of attachment to pets. Attachment & human development, 19(3), 278-297.
18. Moghadam, M., Rezaei, F., Ghaderi, E., & Rostamian, N. (2016). Relationship between attachment styles and happiness in medical students. Journal of family medicine and primary care, 5(3), 593.
19. Mohammadimehr, Z., & Karimi, B.A. (2017). The relationship between emotional intelligence, attachment styles and optimism with martials satisfaction. Iranian Journal of Educational Sociology, 1(2), 50-58.
20. Motamed, N., Ayatollahi, A., Zare, N., & Sadeghi Hassanabadi, A. (2005). Validity and reliability of the Persian translation of the SF-36 version 2 questionnaire.
21. Noftle, E. E., & Shaver, P. R. (2006). Attachment dimensions and the big five personality traits: Associations and comparative ability to predict relationship quality. Journal of research in personality, 40(2), 179-208.
22. Paro, H. B., Morales, N. M., Silva, C. H., Rezende, C. H., Pinto, R. M., Morales, R. R., Mendoça, T.M.S. Prado, M. M. (2010). Health-related quality of life of medical students. Medical education, 44(3), 227-235.
23. Rezaei Adaryani, M. (2007). Comparison of depression, anxiety, stress and quality of life for Male and female students living in Tarbeyat Modares student dormitories. Pajoheshe Parastari, 2(4), 31-38.
24. Shahla, P. (2004). The relationship between attachment and community seeking in adolescence. JPS???, 3(9), 25-47.
25. Szramka-Pawlak, B., Hornowska, E., Walkowiak, H., & Żaba, R. (2014). Hope as a psychological factor affecting quality of life in patients with psoriasis. Applied research in quality of life, 9(2), 273-283.
26. Tatnell, R., Hasking, P., Newman, L., Taffe, J., & Martin, G. (2017). Attachment, emotion regulation, childhood abuse and assault: examining predictors of NSSI among adolescents. Archives of suicide research, 21(4), 610-620.
27. Thompson, G., Wrath, A., Trinder, K., & Adams, G. C. (2018). The roles of attachment and resilience in perceived stress in medical students. Canadian medical education journal, 9(4), e69.
28. West, M., & Sheldon, A. E. (1988). Classification of pathological attachment patterns in adults. Journal of Personality Disorders, 2(2), 153-159.
29. Woodward, M. J., Patton, S. C., Olsen, S. A., Jones, J. M., Reich, C. M., Blackwell, N., & Beck, J. G. (2013). How do attachment style and social support contribute to women’s psychopathology following intimate partner violence? Examining clinician ratings versus self-report. Journal of anxiety disorders, 27(3), 312-320.
30. Zeidner, M., Matthews, G., & Roberts, R. D. (2012). What we know about emotional intelligence: How it affects learning, work, relationships, and our mental health: MIT press.
31. Zheng, X., Zhu, W., Zhao, H., & Zhang, C. (2015). Employee well-being in organizations: Theoretical model, scale development, and cross-cultural validation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(5), 621-644.
32. Zilcha-Mano, S. (2019). Major developments in methods addressing for whom psychotherapy may work and why. Psychotherapy Research, 29(6), 693-708.