The Relationship Between Insecure Attachment And Depressive Symptoms Among College Students: The Mediating Role Of Self-forgiveness And Forgiveness Of Others

In recent years,the incidence of depression is constantly trending up and has become a major problem affecting people's mental health.Depression,now concerned as a main influential factor of college students' psychological well-being,is ranking in the first position among all the complaints of psychology clinic visitors in universities.According to Erikson's eight stages of development,university students who are in early adulthood is faced with the conflict between intimacy and isolation in their psychosocial stages.In comparison to the students with secure attachment,there is a higher rate of isolation feelings among insecure attachment students.And that is considered to be the reason that the prevalence of depression among insecure attachment students is at an all-time high.On the basis of positive psychology,the study wants to explore positive personal qualities and use them as powerful strengths to improve depressive symptoms.Therefore,this paper selected insecure attachment as independent variable,and introduced self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others as mediating variables to study the relationship between the former and depression on the base of the previous studies.As a result,our assumption in the experiment is that self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others were mediators in the relationship between insecure attachment and depression.To investigate the effect of insecure attachment on depressive symptoms and the mediating role of self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others,the present study administered the Heartland Forgiveness Scale,Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory,and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale to 370 university students.The results display:1.University students in self-forgiveness,forgiveness of others,attachment avoidance,attachment anxiety and depression indicated no differences in gender,residential area,major,age and grade.2.There are distinct gaps between people who have no siblings and people who have siblings in the levels of forgiveness of others.Results scores of forgiveness of others were significantly higher in students who have siblings.3.It is found that attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety are significantly positive correlated with depression.The higher a person's attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety levels,the greater his or her likelihood of displaying depressive symptom.4.It shows that attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety are significantly negative correlated with self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others.The higher a person's attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety levels,the lower his or her likelihood of self-forgiving and forgiving others.5.Self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others are significantly positive correlated with depression.The higher a person's self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others levels,the lower his or her likelihood of displaying depressive symptom.6.Insecure attachment affected depression through two indirect paths: through the mediating role of self-forgiveness;through the mediating role of forgiveness of others.In conclusion,we come to the result that there are correlations among insecure attachment,self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others,as well as depression.Also,self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others are the partial mediating variables between insecure attachment and depression.The results reveal the mechanism of the effect of insecure attachment on depression,which can provide theoretical guidance for subsequent treatment of depression.