The Relationship Between Adult Attachment And Loneliness In College Students: The Mediating Role Of Solitude

Loneliness is a persistent phenomenon among college students,and the various psychological and behavioral problems caused by it have aroused the concern of psychologists in universities.How to effectively reduce the experience of loneliness and improve the mental health level has become the focus of the work.Although solitude and loneliness are often confused,more and more scholars are beginning to emphasize the positive role of solitude and focus on the cultivation of students’ abilities to be alone.At present,many scholars at home and abroad have confirmed the relationship between adult attachment and loneliness,but there is no systematic study on adult attachment,solitude capacity and loneliness.Through exploring the mediating role of solitude,this study examines whether individuals with different attachment levels can reduce the experience of loneliness by enhancing their ability to be alone and provide an alternative way to reduce their experience of loneliness in practical work.In this study,a total of 798 undergraduates and graduate students from Nanjing and Xinxiang were selected as subjects,and questionnaires were conducted by using the experience of intimacy scale,the capacity to be alone scale and a simplified version of 8 item of loneliness scale.SPSS 22.0 was used for demographic description,variance analysis and correlation analysis,and Mplus 7.0 was used for mediating effect test.The results showed that:1.For attachment-related anxiety,there were significantly differences on grade.For attachment-related avoidance,there were significantly differences on grade,whether not being from one-child family,and the duration of romantic relationship now.For solitude capacity,there were significantly differences on sex,hometown,and the duration of romantic relationship now.For the tendency to use solitude to coping with stress,there were significantly differences on grade,hometown,and the duration of romantic relationship now.For the tendency to use solitude to relax,there were significantly differences on sex and the duration of romantic relationship now.For loneliness,there were significantly differences on grade and the duration of romantic relationship now.2.Attachment-related anxiety and attachment-related avoidance is significantly positively correlated with loneliness.Attachment-related anxiety is significantly negatively correlated with the tendency to use solitude to coping with stress and the tendency to use solitude to relax.Attachment-related avoidance is significantly negatively correlated with the tendency to use solitude to relax.The tendency to use solitude to coping with stress and the tendency to use solitude to relax is significantly negatively correlated with loneliness.3.The tendency to use solitude to coping with stress plays a partly mediating role on the relationship between attachment-related anxiety and loneliness.The tendency to use solitude to relax plays a partly mediating role on the relationship between attachment-related avoidance and loneliness.The conclusions are as follows:1.Attachment-related anxiety through the tendency to use solitude to coping with stress affect loneliness,that is,the lower the level of anxiety,the stronger the tendency to use solitude to coping with stress,and the less the experience of loneliness.2.Attachment-related avoidance through the tendency to use solitude to relax affect loneliness,that is,the lower the level of anxiety,the stronger the tendency to use solitude to relax,and the less the experience of loneliness.