Langevad, Anne M. (2012) An Exploration of Loneliness, Attachment, and Hope in Adult Children of Divorce. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Research has consistently found that adult children of divorce are more likely to have poorer psychological wellbeing, and lower levels of educational attainment and interpersonal function, in comparison to their peers whose parents have remained continuously married. There is an increasing argument that rather than continuing to compare children of divorce with those from intact families it would be more beneficial to investigate factors which influence negative outcomes for children of divorce. Within a cohort of adult children of divorce, this study investigated (a) the relatedness of secure attachment, hope and loneliness; (b) the capacity of attachment and hope to predict loneliness, across the domains of family, romantic and social loneliness; and (c) whether the underlying attachment style variables and hope interacted consistently in predicting loneliness across the domains. A convenience sample of 160 adult children of divorce (136 females, 24 males) aged between 17 and 65 (M = 32.35, SD = 10.80) participated in this study. An online survey assessed each participant’s perceived loneliness (Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults—short form; DiTommaso & Spinner, 2004), attachment (Relationship Questionnaire; Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991), and hope (Adult Dispositional Hope Scale; Snyder et al., 1991). Bivariate correlations identified secure attachment was significantly related to family loneliness and social loneliness. Furthermore hope was significantly related to family loneliness, romantic loneliness, and social loneliness. Hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that there was variation in overall attachment style and hope in predicting loneliness across the domains. Overall attachment was significantly predictive of family loneliness, but hope was not. However, overall attachment and hope were significantly predictive of both romantic and social loneliness. Whilst overall attachment was important in predicting family, romantic and social loneliness, variation was found in the contribution of underlying attachment tendencies. These findings indicate that attachment and hope operate differently in the domains of family, romantic and social loneliness. The findings of this exploratory study found initial support for the continued investigation of the complex relationship between loneliness, attachment and hope. If confirmed by future research these findings could potentially inform interventions aimed at reducing the occurrence of multidimensional loneliness in adult children of divorce.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Psychology (Up to 30 Jun 2013) |
| Supervisors: | Nola Passmore |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Oct 2025 23:53 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Oct 2025 23:53 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | adult children ; divorce ; social loneliness ; romantic loneliness ; family loneliness ; attachment tendencies ; hope |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52491 |
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