The Effect of Attachment Styles on Attitude towards Help Seeking

Mersin ÜniversitesiEğitimFakültesiDergisi - Mersin University Journal of the Faculty of Education “Mersin ÜniversitesiEğitimFakültesiDergisi, 2015; 11(3): 1063-1074” DOI: 10.17860/efd.87991 The Effect of Attachment Styles on Attitude towards Help Seeking Bağlanma Şekillerinin, Psikolojik Yardım Almaya Yönelik Tutum Üzerine Etkisi Ayşe IRKÖRÜCÜ*, Ayhan DEMİR** Abstract: The aim of the study is to determine whether there is a difference among university students’ attitudes towards help seeking in regard to their attachment styles. Participants of this study were composed of 572 university students (264 female, 308 male). The data was obtained by using the Attitudes toward Seeking Psychological Help – Shortened and Relationship Questionnaire. One way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to analyze the data. Dependent variable of the study was attitude towards help seeking, independent variable was attachment style and covariance was gender. The findings of the study indicated that students with secure attachment style was found to have more positive attitude towards psychological help seeking than preoccupied and fearful attachment styles. Keywords: Help seeking attitude, attachment styles, university students Öz: Bu çalışmanın amacı, üniversite öğrencilerinin psikolojik yardım almaya ilişkin tutumlarının bağlama biçimlerine göre farklılık gösterip göstermediği bulmaktır. Bu çalışmanın örneklem grubunu 572 üniversitesi öğrencisi oluşmaktadır (264 kız, 308 erkek). Bilgiler, Psikolojik Yardım Almaya İlişkin Tutum Ölçeği-S, İlişki Ölçekleri ve demografik bilgi formuyla toplanmıştır. Verileri analiz etmek için tek yönlü kovaryans analizi (ANCOVA) kullanılmıştı. Çalışmanın bağımlı değişkeni yardım almaya ilişkin tutum, bağımsız değişkeni bağlanma şekilleri ve ortak değişkeni cinsiyettir. Çalışmanın sonucunda güvenli bağlanma biçimine sahip olan öğrencilerin psikolojik yardım almaya ilişkin tutumlarının korkulu ve saplantılı bağlanma biçimlerine sahip olan öğrencilerden daha olumlu olduğunu ortaya koymuştur. Anahtar Kelimeler: Yardım arama tutumu, bağlanma biçimleri, üniversite öğrencileri Introduction Universities are the first pit stop of an adult’s life that helps individuals to gain various kinds of qualification to carry out their plans for the future. Students experience transformation from adolescence to adulthood. This transition which starts with the beginning of university life, challenge students with many kinds of adaptation problems like separation or distancing from their families, adapting to a new environment, making new friends, having more responsibility about one’s life, considering educational attainment and prospective occupational success more seriously than before (Pittman & Richmond, 2008; Compas, Wagner, Slavin & Vannatta, 1986). Although this translation makes students grow intellectually, adapting to the changes mentioned above brings different kinds of difficulties to students’ lives like acquiring new skills, coping with new academic issues, facing with the demands of their families, social network and academicians, and getting used to a new sense of self (Bayram & Bilgel, 2008; Grayson & Meilman, 1992; Humphrey, 1982). In addition to academic and environmental problems, students also have to cope with developmental tasks which are physiological and psychological changes and these are natural parts of their development (Arnstein, 1984). In Turkey, most of the students begin their university life at the age range of 18-20. These ages fall into the transition period of late adolescents to early adulthood where individuals have more independence and control over their * Araştırma Görevlisi., Ufuk Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi, Ankara-Türkiye, eposta: **Profesör Doktor, Ortadoğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi, Ankara-Türkiye, eposta: Gönderi tarihi: 10.02.2015 - Kabul tarihi: 21.12.2015 The Effect of Attachment Styles on Attitude towards Help Seeking own lives (Erikson, 1950). Hence, exploring developmental theories help us to understand why students sometimes display certain characteristics by illustrating stages of development. There are two types of student developmental theories: psychosocial and cognitive. Psychosocial theories involve development as a succession of stages, such as thinking, feeling, behaving, valuing, and relations with other and to oneself. Examples, of psychosocial theories are Arthur W. Chickering’s seven vectors of development (1969) and Erikson’s eight developmental crises (1959). Like Erikson (1969), Chickering (1969) also emphasize individual transition and exploration in establishing identity and developing characteristics, the distinctive feature of Chickering theory from Erikson theory is its emphasize on college student’s transition . The purpose of the seven vectors is to present how a students’ development in the college life can affect them emotionally, socially, physically, and intellectually especially in the formation of identity. Chickering’s seven vectors developmental theory includes the following vectors: developing competence, managing emotions, moving through autonomy toward interdependence, developing mature interpersonal relationships, establishing identity, developing purpose, and developing integrity (Chickering & Reisser, 1993). Chickering and Reisser (1993) assert that students will move through the progression the seven vectors at different rates and in various orders. They also claim that, all college students will experience challenging transition period due to the biological, interpersonal, cognitive and environmental changes. Moreover, together with the demands of university life, this transition period turns into a vulnerable era to psychological difficulties and morbidities. Many studies reported high levels of psychological distress among university students (Demirüstü, Binboğa, Öner & Özdamar, 2009; Eskin, Kaynak-Demir & Demir, 2005; Kaya, Genç, Kaya & Pehlivan, 2004; Özdel, Bostancı, Özdel & Oğuzhanoğlu, 2002; Özenli, Yoldaşcan, Topal & Özçürümez, 2009). Thus, this transition period has to be handled carefully and professionally. However, previous research presents that in contrast to the increases in need of counseling services, the help seeking behavior of university students was found very low (Nilsson, Berkel, Flores & Lucas, 2004; Rosenthal & Wilson, 2008). Furthermore, studies showed that the level of utilization of counseling services and receiving professional psychological help is too insufficient (Andrews, Hall, Teesson & Henderson, 1999; Andrews, Issakidis & Carter, 2001; Cho et al., 2009; Cooke, Bewick, Barkham, Bradley & Audin, 2006; Güneri, Aydın & Skovholt, 2003; Nilsson et al., 2004; Whiteford & Groves, 2009; Yakushko, Sanford-Martens & Davidson, 2008). Researchers examined various kinds of variables that may be related to help seeking behavior in order to understand the factors that determine whether or not an individual seeks help from professional sources. (...truncated)