The Relationship Between Attachment Style And Psychological Well-Being Of The Elderly: Chain Mediating Effect Of Perceived Social Support And Sense Of Life Meaning

With the increase in the elderly population in China,how to enable the elderly to enjoy a happy and fulfilling old age is one of the increasingly important goals of governments and geriatric workers at all levels.Psychological well-being is a comprehensive measure of the mental health and quality of life of older people and is an overall assessment of happiness.The current research on happiness is mainly focused on subjective well-being,which is a subjective perception or immediate perception of an individual’s emotions to determine whether the individual is happy or not,focusing only on the individual’s immediate perception of happiness or pleasure,which cannot reflect the true state of the individual’s inner perception.Fortunately,a growing number of researchers believe that happiness should not only be an emotional experience,but should also focus on the realisation of self-worth,the application of "psychological well-being" to reinterpret human happiness.According to adult attachment theory,the experience of being cared for early in life is internalised into the internal working model of adulthood,and if an individual is in an insecure attachment,this can lead to a negative internal working model of self or others,affecting the individual’s ability to appreciate social support,leading to a reduction in social resources and a sense of meaning in life,thus undermining their level of psychological well-being.In fact,older people also need attachment,and attachment is not a phase of life,but a developmental proposition that spans the entire life course from the cradle to the grave.Therefore,this study examines the current situation of attachment style,perceived social support,sense of meaningfulness and psychological well-being of older people and the differences in the demographic variables of these four factors,in order to clarify the intermediate mechanisms through which attachment style affects the psychological well-being of older people,and to propose feasible suggestions for improving the psychological well-being of older people.In this study,questionnaires were administered to 494 older adults using instruments such as the Intimacy Experience Scale,Appreciative Social Support Scale,Sense of Life Meaning Scale,and Psychological Well-Being Scale to reveal the underlying mechanisms of the influence of attachment style on older adults’ psychological well-being,and the following findings were obtained.(1)Older adults’ attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety were at a moderate to low level,and comprehending social support,sense of life meaning and psychological well-being were at a moderate to high level.The four variables differed in some demographic variables.(2)Attachment style,perceived social support,sense of life meaning,and psychological well-being were significantly correlated with each other.Specifically,psychological well-being was significantly negatively correlated with attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety,and significantly positively correlated with apprehending social support and sense of meaning in life.(3)The attachment style of older adults negatively predicted their psychological wellbeing.At the same time,apprehending social support and sense of meaningfulness of life played not only separate but also chain mediating roles between attachment style and psychological well-being.