Effects of university students' attachment styles on their subjective well-being

The general aim of this study is examining whether attachment styles of university students' predict their subjective well-being or not and also differentiation of subjective well-being according to gender and level of income. Sample of the research is composed of 356 university students in Istanbul. 275 of them were female and other 81 of them were male. To measure the variables of the study 'Personal Information Form', to specify the attachment styles 'Relationship Scales Questionnaire', to examine their subjective well-being 'The Satisfaction With Lifestyle (SWLS)' and 'Positive Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)' were applied. Among study's statistical analyses, t Test, One Way Variance Analysis (ANOVA), Pearson Product Moment Correlation (LSD), and Multiple Regression Analysis (MANOVA) were used. According to the analysis results of t test, subjective well-being mean scores were differentiated by gender variable. Female students subjective well-being scores were meaningfully higher than male students. Results of the variance analysis shown that, students' subjective well-being scores were differentiated by the family income variable. To specify the source of this differentiation, LSD test was applied. Students whose family income was 3001 TL or more have higher subjective well-being mean score than students whose family income 1500 TL, 1501-2500 TL and 2501-3000 TL. There is not any statistically meaningful differentiation found among other comparisons. According to the t test results for the meaningfulness of regression coefficients, secure attachment style and preoccupied attachment style subdimensions predict subjective well-being levels. Fearful attachment style and dismissive avoidant style were not effective on the prediction of the subjective well-being. Key Words: Attachment Styles, Subjective Well-Being, Family İncome, Gender