Attachment, Social Support Satisfaction, and Well-Being During Life Transition in Emerging Adulthood

The present study was designed to investigate the relations among attachment, social support satisfaction, and well-being in a cross-sectional sample of emerging adults (N = 213) experiencing one or more normative life transitions. The sample represented a range of educational and vocational backgrounds. The primary hypotheses were that social support satisfaction would mediate the associations between each attachment dimension and well-being. A corresponding theoretical model was tested using structural equation modeling. The model provided an excellent fit to the sample data. Social support satisfaction mediated the association between attachment anxiety and well-being, but not the association between attachment avoidance and well-being. That is, attachment anxiety was indirectly associated with well-being through social support satisfaction, whereas attachment avoidance was directly associated with well-being. Alternative model testing provided mixed support for the variable ordering in the theoretical model. Implications are provided for future research and for counseling emerging adult clients experiencing transition.