Leaving home for college: a potentially stressful event for adolescents with preoccupied attachment patterns

Abstract

Sixty-two high school students, 28 of which were planning on leaving home to attend college, completed the Adult Attachment Interview and self-report questionnaires pertaining to their relationship with their parents. Compared to their autonomous counterparts, preoccupied students who had left home reported having a more negative relationship with each parent and experiencing more family-related stress. However, they reported having more contact with each parent. In contrast, no attachment differences with regards to perceptions of the parent-adolescent relationship were found among students who lived at home while in college. This suggests that individual differences related to attachment state of mind in adolescence may be magnified by a stressful life experience.