Attachment and images of parents and of the romantic partner of Russian young men and women

Abstract

The study investigated young adults' perceptions of their parents and romantic partners with respect to the quality of attachment to the loved ones. The sample consisted of 78 young Russian men and women aged 19-25 involved in a romantic relationship for at least for 12 months. The employed instruments were the Attachment to Close People Questionnaire (ACOQ), based on the Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR) questionnaire, the Adolescents' Report of Parental Behavior Inventory, and Leary's Interpersonal Behavior Measure. Regression analysis was used to analyze the data. The results indicated that the attachment to the mother contributed to attachment to the romantic partner more than the attachment to the father. The attachment security with the partner was associated with the image of the partner.