The relationship between attachment history, personality characteristics and mandatory participation in parenting education class

This study examined whether a relationship exists between attachment history, personality and mandatory participation in parenting education classes. A total of seventy-two participants were examined. Thirty-five of the participants were recently mandated to participate in parenting education classes. The remaining thirty-seven participants had never participated in a parenting education class. The Attachment History Questionnaire (AHQ and the Parent-Adult Attachment Style Questionnaire (P-AASQ assessed the quality of participants' attachment histories and attachment relationships. Participants' personality traits were assessed through use of the NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI).;The study had four main hypotheses. Hypothesis I predicted that mandated participants would have more problematic attachment histories (as operationalized by the AHQ than non-mandated participants; Hypothesis II predicted that mandated participants would have poorer attachments relationship (as operationalized by the P-AASQ) with their caregivers than non-mandated participants; Hypothesis III predicted that the personality profiles (as operationalized by the NEO-FFI) of mandated participants would be different from that of non-mandated participants; and Hypothesis IV predicted that there would be a relationship between attachment style (as operationalized by the P-AASQ and personality profiles.;Hypothesis I, III and IV were analyzed through use of a Multiple Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) static including ANOVAs with a Bonferroni correction. Hypothesis II was analyzed through use of a Chi-square statistic. While the study yielded interesting findings regarding the relationship between the research variables, none of the hypotheses were supported by the findings of the study.