The Relationship among Attachment Styles & Assertiveness among University Students

Different researches conducted on attachment theory demonstrate its significance in various aspects of individual's life. According to this theory, there is a constant impact of the quality of the attachment that signifies individual differences in regulating the interpersonal relationships.Considering the importance of this topic,The goal of the present research was to examine the relationship among attachment styles & assertiveness among university students. In doing so, a descriptive-correlation research method was adopted. The statistical population involved students of Kashan University studying in academic year of 2011-2012. From among them, a number of 400 students were selected using stratified sampling method. To collect data, 2 questionnaires including Hazen & Shaver's Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) & Gambrill & Richey's Assertiveness Interview (AI) were utilized. To do data analysis,both descriptive (mean & Standard deviation) & inferential (Pearson's Correlation Coefficient Test & stepwise and hierachial Regression) statistical methods were adopted in this study. The results indicated that there was a positive meaningful relationship among secure attachment style & assertiveness. Also, there existed a negative meaningful relationship among avoidant and ambivalent insecure attachment style & assertiveness. Results of regression analysis from male & female students showed that, in terms of the act of expressing assertiveness performed by attachment styles, there was not a meaningful difference between boys & girls. Being congruent with those of other studies, our results represented the point that attachment styles meaningfully predicted assertiveness variance.