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Adult Attachment, Role Balance, and Depressive Symptoms in Emerging Adulthood

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Abstract

Given the large body of evidence linking attachment insecurity to psychological distress (e.g., depression) in the transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood and across the lifespan, there is a need to better understand how attachment dimensions (e.g., anxious, avoidant) influence depressive symptoms during this developmental period. Based on limited findings that difficulties with role balance may uniquely contribute to depression among college students (Lopez and Fons-Scheyd in J Coll Couns 11:133–147, 2008; Marks and McDermid in J Marriage Family 58:417–432, 1996) and may be associated with individual factors such as internal working models of attachment, this study tested the indirect effects of anxious and avoidant attachment on depression through role balance using a college student sample (n = 299). Structural equation modeling indicated that role balance partially mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and depression. Results of this study suggest that difficulty in balancing individual (i.e., autonomy-focused) and relational (i.e., intimacy-focused) role commitments might help to explain depressive symptoms above and beyond insecure attachment for anxiously attached emerging adults and serve as a mechanism by which anxious attachment influences depressive symptoms during this developmental period. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, 305 Austin Peay Building, Knoxville, TN, 37996-0900, USA

    Jennifer L. Bishop, Jerika C. Norona, Deborah P. Welsh & Sara K. McCurry

  2. Department of Human Ecology, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Patricia N. E. Roberson

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  1. Jennifer L. Bishop
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  2. Jerika C. Norona
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Correspondence to Jennifer L. Bishop.

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Bishop, J.L., Norona, J.C., Roberson, P.N.E. et al. Adult Attachment, Role Balance, and Depressive Symptoms in Emerging Adulthood. J Adult Dev 26, 31–40 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-018-9295-z

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