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ERIC Number: EJ1472940
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 6
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0744-8481
EISSN: EISSN-1940-3208
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Romantic Attachment Security Buffers the Effect of Stress on Anxiety in College Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Journal of American College Health, v73 n2 p467-472 2025
Background and objectives: The stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic spurred alarming levels of stress and anxiety in college students. It is important to identify factors that attenuate the negative effect of stress on anxiety. Framed by the attachment diathesis-stress process perspective, this study examined how the two dimensions of insecurity in romantic attachment--attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance--buffered the effect of stress on anxiety in a population of college students during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design and methods: The study employed cross-sectional and correlation designs and used an online survey to gather self-report data from a sample of 453 college students. Data were collected from March 15, 2020, to February 16, 2021. Results: Anxiety, stress, and the two insecurity dimensions were all mutually correlated with one another. Multiple regression analysis revealed that as the level of attachment anxiety increased, the association of stress and anxiety turned stronger. Conclusions: The findings suggest that targeting attachment insecurity may prove to be fruitful when helping college students effectively regulate stress to lessen levels of anxiety.
Taylor & Francis. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Department of Psychology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA; 2Department of Pediatric Newborn Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; 3Department of Psychology, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA