The Relationship of Parental Attachment, Academic Performance and Self-esteem
College is an extremely challenging period for most adolescents and young adults. It is the period when adolescents are asked to be more mature, be more independent and be responsible for their learning experiences. Being in college coincides with the transition from being an adolescent to being a young adult, where joining the workforce after college and figuring out the future are the most important concerns.
Most developmental theorists advocate the importance of parental attachment to the healthy adjustment of children and even into adolescence and adulthood. It has been found that parents are the single most important factor that affects the psychological health of their children and even later in life (Essau, 2004 Perry, Silvera, Neilands, Rosenvinge, Hanssen, 2008). A strong relationship between parental attachment, self-image, self-evaluation, psychological health and quality of relationships has been established by a number of studies (Amsden Greenberg, 1987 Kerns, Klepac, Cole, 1996 Maureen, Griffiths, Grossman, 2005 Perry et al., 2008 Song, Thompson, Ferrer, 2009).
Parental attachment had also been linked to the achievement and success in adulthood (Bakermans-Kranenburg, van IJzendoorn Juffer, 2003 Waters Beauchaine, 2003 Fraley Shaver , 2000) thus it would seem that strong parental attachment is associated with positive and healthy adjustment in lifes challenges. This is especially true in college when the youth have to deal with the competing tasks of academics and personal development. In this light, the present study aims to determine the relationship between parental attachment, self-esteem and academic performance. Also, this study will explore whether parental attachment can be predicted by self-esteem and academic performance.
Parental Attachment
Attachment theory was developed by Bowlby (1971) after his work and observation with infants and young mothers and caregivers. He was the first to put into theoretical perspective the need for infants and young children to form attachments to their parents or a permanent caregiver and espoused that inadeqaute and poor attachment would lead to problem behaviours later in life (Bowlby, 1971). Attachment is defined as the emotional and psychological bond between the infant and the caregiver, the caregiver may be any person who provides consistent care and attention to the infant. The infants attachment behavior is based on the infants safety and security needs which the caregiver provides (Bretherton, 1992). The infant then forms the attachment on the responses of the caregiver rather than on the caregiver. As the infant develops, the attachment behavior of the child becomes more differentiated from that of other individuals which the child interacts with, wherein the caregiver becomes the primary attachment figure.
Attachment theory was expounded by Ainsworth (1969) where she identified the different attachment patterns that young children exhibit especially in the first four years of life. Ainsworth (1969) identified four attachment patterns secure, avoidant, resistant and disorganized. Secure attachment is manifested when the child is able to explore his or her environmnet and the caregiver serves as the secure base that the child can return to, also the child will seek proximity to the caregiver and will be appeased upon the return of the caregiver. Avoidant attachment occurs when the child does not seem to be affected by the proximity or the distance of the caregiver from the child. Resistant attachment is seen among children who appear to be clingy to their caregivers and who refuses to be separated from the caregiver. The disorganized attachment pattern refer to a childs contradictory attachment behavior, not seeking proximity but will approach when asked, disorientation and fear is also markedly present in the childs interaction with the caregiver.
The different attachment patterns also result to different behaviors in children and during adolescence. The most positive attachment pattern would be the secure attachment as it facilitates the exploration of the child. Such exploration enables the child to discover his or her surroundings and serve as the basis from which the child learns that he or she is a separate individual from the caregiver (Berlin, Zeanah Lieberman, 2008). The avoidant and resistant attachment patterns are not at all negative and would cause problematic adjustment in children but it would be a cause for concern as it predisposes them to negative and unhealthy relationships (Dunst Kassow , 2008). The disorganized attachment pattern clearly denotes a problem, since most abused children have disroganized attachment patterns (Bugental, Ellerson, Rainey, Lin Kokotovic, 2002).
Parental attachment defined in terms of attachment theory is the emotional bond between parents and the offspring. This would presupose that parents are the primary caregivers and the quality of their interaction had developed into attachment patterns. A positive and secure parental attachment had been found to be related to self-image (Maureen et al., 2005) empathy and self-esteem (Laible, Carlo, Roesch, 2004), level of career in decision making (Emmanuelle, 2009) life satisfaction and gender differences (Ma Heubner, 2008), and school success (Wong, Wiest, Cusick, 2002).
Self-esteem and academic performance
Self-esteem can be defined as ones overall sense of self-satisfaction and self-competence. Numerous studies showed a positive relationship between self-esteem and academic perfomance (Lawrence, 2000 Naderi, Rohani, Aizan, Sharir, Kumar, 2009). However, a research done by Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger, and Vohs (2003) questioned the positive link between self-esteem and academic performance and concluded that the benefit of high self-esteem is less than we expected, but it is a useful tool to promote academic success.
The present study aims to determine the relationship of parental attachment to self-esteem and academic performance of undergraduate students. Also, this study would explore whether parental attachment is predicted by self-esteem and academic achievement. In doing so, this study would be able to provide evidence of the link between parental attachment and positive college students adjustment to college life. Moreover, this study would be able to identify whether there is a strong enough association between the variables that would predict parental attachment. It is hypothesized that there is a significant and positive relationship between parental attachment, self-esteem and academic performance of college students. A second hypothesis is that self-esteem and academic achievement will predict parental attachment of college students.
Method
Participants
A total of 32 undergraduate students were randomly selected in the campus to participate in this study and included 13 males (40.6) and 19 females (59.4). The participants age ranged from 19 to 23 (M 20.34, S.D. 1.13). The participants were composed of students in different year levels, year 1 (40.6), year 2 (40.6), and year 3 (18.8). English is the teaching language in Hong Kong.
Materials
The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment. The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA Amsden Greenberg, 1987) is a self-report measure to assess adolescents attachment to their parents and peers through three dimensions trust, communication and alienation. The IPPA originally contained two sections parent attachment and peer attachment. Since the present study focused only on parental attachment, the parent attachment section was used. The abbreviated version of the IPPA contains 28 questions (e.g. My parents respect my feeling, my parents do not understand what Im going through these days I get upset a lot more than my parents know about). Participants completed the questionnaire by indicating how true each statement was for them with respect to their relationship with their parents on a 5-point Likert scale. If they had inconsistent relationships with parents, they answered the questions for the one that they felt had most influenced them which in this study was mother only (12.5), father only (9.4) and both parents (78.1). The 5-points Likert scale ranges from 1 (never true) to 5 (almost always or always true). The total attachment score was obtained by reverse-scoring items including question 3,5,7,10 and 15. Higher scores indicated higher level of secure attachment. The highest score obtainable for IPPA in the present study is 140 and lowest obtainable score is 28.
Amsden and Greenberg (1987) conducted two studies with 179 college students aged from 16 to 20 years. The study found good test-retest reliabilities with .93 for the Parent Attachment mearsure and favarable internal reliability with Cronbachs alpha .91 for both trust and communication dimensions, and .86 for alimenation dimension (Amsden Greenberg, 1987). Thus the IPPA is a reliable and valid measure of parental attachment among adolescents.
Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale. Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSE Rosenberg, 1965) is a self-report measure used to assess the adolescents global self-esteem. The RSE includes ten questions (e.g. I am able to do things as well as most other people, I wish I could have more respect for myself.). Participants completed the questionnaire by indicating to what extent they agree with the statement on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). There were 5 reverse-scoring items which were reversed before calculating the total score. The higher the total score indicated higher levels of self-esteem. The highest score obtainable for RSE is 40 and lowest score obtainable is 10.
In a study conducted by McCarthy and Hoge (1982), a total of 1970 students from grade 7 to 12 completed the RSE. McCarthy and Hoge (1982) reported good test-retest reliablity of the RSE measure of alpha .74 and a year later with alpha .77. Besides adolescents, Shahani, Dipboye, and Philips (1990) examined the RSE with 1726 employees of a state agencty. The study found a good relability with alpha .80 for the total RSE scale (Shahani et al., 1990). The RSE is therefore a reliable and valid measure of self-eteem among adolescents and adults.
Demographic information. Aside from the measures of parental attachment and self-esteem, the participants demographic information was collected through a survey questionnaire. The participants gender, age, year of study, and cumulative GPA were collected. Cumulative GPA is used to determine a students academic performance. Hong Kong universities use CGPA to determine how well a student has performed in courses since 1998 (Chiu, 2010). Higher CGPA values indicate that students overall had attained high grades in all courses that they have taken. The highest obtainable score of CGPA is 4.00. Family background of the participants was not considered in the present study.
Procedure
Before the actual participation in the present study, participants were asked to complete informed consent forms. The questionnaire booklet consisted of 2 questionnaires including IPPA, RSE and demographic information. Students were randomly selected in the University premises and were currently enrolled in the university (e.g. outside the canteen, in the computer centre). A brief introduction was done before the participants signed the informed consent form. The introduction included a discussion of the purpose of the research, keys for answering the questionnaires, and the researcher clarified the concerns and questions of the participants. Questionnaires were completed in a similar order for all participants IPPA, RSE and demographic information. Participation by students was strictly voluntary without any risk or reward on their part. Finally, the participants were assured of the confidentiality of their responses and were debriefed about the study after completing all questionnaires, and then the signed debriefing forms were collected from all of the participants.
Results
Descriptive statistics. Mean and standard deviation of parental attachment scores, self-esteem scores and academic performance of undergraduate students are shown in Table 1. The participants of the study were found to have low parental attachment scores (45.80), high self-esteem (27.88) and a satisfactory CGPA (2.85).
Table 1
Mean and standard deviation of undergraduate students parental attachment scores, self-esteem scores and academic performanceMeanStd. DeviationNParental Attachment45.802.5032Self-esteem27.883.6132CGPA2.85.48932
Correlation analysis. In order to answer the first research question on the relationship of parental attachment, self-esteem and academic performance, a Pearson moment correlation was conducted on the scores of the participants of the three variables. Pearson moment correlation was conducted to determine significant relationships between the three variables parental attachment, CGPA and Self-esteem. As we can see in Table 2, all variables had a positive and significant correlation at the 1 level of confidence (2-tailed). Parental attachment was positively associated with self-esteem (r.62) and CGPA (r.47). Moreover, it was also found that self-esteem was highly associated with CGPA (r.71).
Correlation analysis between parental attachment, CGPA and self-esteem
Self-esteemParental AttachmentCGPAParental AttachmentPearson Correlation.621.47Sig. (2-tailed).00.01N323232Self-esteemPearson Correlation1.62.71Sig. (2-tailed).00.00N323232CGPAPearson Correlation.71.471Sig. (2-tailed).00.01N323232. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Predictive analysis. Since it has been found that parental attachment, self-esteem and CGPA is positively associated, it is of interest to determine which of the two variables-self-esteem and CGPA will be able to predict the quality of parental attachment. In other words, this statistical analysis will identify whether self-esteem or academic achievement is indicative of the students parental attachment. It is hypothesized that the self-esteem and CGPA of the students can adequately predict the level of parental attachment.
The table shows that only self-esteem predicted parental attachment ( 0.258), this would indicate that the student s self-esteem levels are associated with parental attachment scores. The results also showed that CGPA is not a good predictor of parental attachment, indicating that the association between parental attachment patterns and student s academic achievement is not as strong as that of self-esteem.
Discussion
The present study determined the relationship between parental attachment, self-esteem and academic performance of undergraduate students. In addition, this study identified that self-esteem is predictive of parental attachment while academic performance is not. The findings of the study indicate that parental attachment is positively associated with self-esteem and academic performance, wherein the more secure the parental attachment, the more it is likely that students have high self-esteem and high CGPA. The positive correlation relationships between the three variables level of parental attachment, self-esteem and academic performance are consistent with previous studies (Amsden Greenberg, 1987 Laible et al., 2004 Maureen et al., 2005 Wong et al., 2002). On the other hand, the present study showed that the relationship between academic performance and parental attachment is weaker than the relationship between self-esteem and parental attachment. That is high level of secure parental attachment has high predictor power on high self-esteem than high academic performance.However, upon further analysis, it was found that only self-esteem predicted parental attachment, that is, a students self-esteem is more a function of parental attachment than academic performance is.
The present study focused on the importance of parental attachment to the positive adjustment of adolescents to college life. Hence the findings have significant implications for the role of parent-chid relationships in preparing children for lifes challenges that they have to face3 on their own. Since parental attachment serves as a secure base where the individual can go back to at any time, it gives the students a certain advantage in surviving college life. Moreover, the reuslts pointed out that self-esteem is more influenced by parental attachment than acadmeic performance, this underscores the importance of the parent-child relationship to the positive perosnality development of the child. It is important to develop parents education program that encourage parents to develp a positive relationship with their children in order to help the child become a healthy and effectively functioning individual. Furthermore, assessing students relationship with parents might help counsellors develop a helping plan focusing on the quality of the students relationship with his or her family, parents and siblings.
A number of limitations that influence the interpretation of the results should be mentioned in the study.
First, in the present study, the sample size is too small thus, generalizing the significant relationships between the variables should be done with caution. The participants selected for the research was in the campus, therefore, possible selection bias may exist and hence sampling error may have occurred.Therefore the results should be generalized with caution. For reducing sampling error, it is suggested that future studies should select a larger sample size. Second, the family background was not available in the study. It is noted that family background (i.e. parents education level and age, family income, and number of siblings) may be an important factor that would greatly influence the findings of this study. Third, the measures used were self-report questionnaries and self-report CGPA and hence the answers may be open to faking and deception on the part of the participants. Fourth, the development of self-esteem is a long term process and academic knowledge are cumulative which imply long term effect as well. However, the present study only assess the current parental attachment but ignore the long term relationships that may influence the interpretation of the results.
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