Investigating the relationship between rejection sensitivity and attachment styles of undergraduate student having non - divorced versus divorced parents

This current study aims to investigate the relationship between rejection sensitivity and adult attachment styles in undergraduate students whose parents were non - divorced and divorced. This study also aims to examine the change in these variables as a function of gender, age, marital status of parents, education levels of parents and socioeconomic status. In order to fulfill these aims, a random sample of 118 undergraduate students from various departments of universities during 2015 - 2016 academic years participated in the study. Participants completed the measures of "Socio - Demographic Information Form" developed by the researcher, "Rejection Sensitivity Scale'' and "Relationship Scales Questionnaire". Collected data was analyzed by two way ANOVA, Pearson Correlation and Regression Analysis. Results indicated that there was a significant main effect of marital status of parents rejection sensitivity, and a main effect of level of rejection sensitivity on fearful attachment. Accordingly, students whose parents were non - divorced reported higher rejection sensitivity than students whose parents were divorced; those with high level of rejection sensitivity scored higher on fearful attachment when compared to those with low level of rejection sensitivity. Moreover, rejection sensitivity was found to be significantly correlated with fearful attachment style in students whose parents were non - divorced. On the other hand, rejection sensitivity did not reveal significant correlations with other attachment styles (i.e., secure preoccupied, and dismissing) in students with non - divorced parents. Furthermore, the relationship between rejection sensitivity and secure, fearful, preoccupied and dismissing attachments styles were found to be insignificant in the students with divorced parents. The findings of the current study were discussed in the light of relevant literature.