Attachment orientations and meaning in life

Abstract

In recent years, attachment theory, which was originally formulated to describe and explain infant-parent emotional bonding, has been applied, first, to the study of adolescent and adult romantic relationships and then to the study of individual-level psychological processes, such as emotion regulation, goal pursuit, identity formation, career development, and religiosity. In this chapter, we extend the theory to contribute to the field's understanding of individual differences in the experience of life's meaning. Our main claim is that attachment security - a felt sense, rooted in one's history of close relationships, that other people are generally helpful when called upon - provides a foundation for an authentic sense that life is coherent, rewarding, and meaningful. In this chapter, we review studies showing that attachment security encourages a sense of meaning in life and shapes psychological processes that augment this sense, such as personal goal pursuit, identity formation, career development, and religious faith.