Impact Parental Conflict, Perceived Social Support, and Attachment Insecurity Among Emerging Adults in Pakistan

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the relationships among conflictual relationship, perceived social support and insecure attachment among emerging adults in Pakistan. A cross sectional correlational design was used with a convenience sample of 173 emerging adults (age 18-25, M=21.76, SD=1.96) were recruited from three educational institutes in Lahore. The Perceptions of Interparental Conflict in Childhood Scale –Short Form, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support and Attachment Style Questionnaire –Short Form were administered. Pearson correlations, hierarchical regression, independent samples t-tests and PROCESS Macro moderation analyses were performed. Parental conflict was significantly positively correlated with anxious attachment and negatively correlated with perceived social support. Bivariately, social support was negatively correlated with anxious attachment but it did not predict it when controlling for parental conflict. There were no significant relationships for avoidant attachment. There was no interaction effect between social support and parental conflict–attachment relationship. The findings are discussed based on the theory of attachment and socio-cultural context of Pakistan which is collectivistic in nature.