LE3 .A278 2023

2023

Symons, Doug

Acadia University

Bachelor of Arts

Honours

Psychology

Psychology

The present study investigated the relationship between anxious and avoidant attachment styles and texting behaviour, with attachment and texting being operationalized overall as well as broken down by specific kinds of attachment relationships. Participants, n = 90, were undergraduate students who reported on their texting behaviour over the previous 24 hours from their iPhone and they then completed the Experiences in Close Relationships – Relationship Structures questionnaire (ECR-RS) to measure adult attachment style. The results revealed that anxious attachment style with the mother figure was significantly negatively correlated with texting behaviour with the mother figure, and similarly, anxious attachment style with the partner figure was significantly negatively correlated with the texting behaviour with the partner figure. In other words, those who have an anxious attachment style to their mother and/or partner texted them less. Further, anxious attachment style with the mother figure was correlated with texting behaviour with the partner figure. On the other hand, an anxious attachment style with the father figure was not correlated with texting behaviour with the father figure. Significant relations between attachment style and texting were not found for non-attachment figures, and these relations held even when restricted to people who had actually texted with a partner during the 24-hour text period. The results suggest that mothers have a strong impact on their children’s attachment style and texting behaviour with others, and that primary attachment figures are mothers and partners.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:4018