The Contributions of Parental Attachment Bonds to College Student Development and Adjustment: A Meta-Analytic Review

We report findings from a meta-analysis of 156 studies conducted between 1987 and 2009 (N = 32,969) that examined the relationship between self-reported parental attachment and multiple adjustment outcomes and developmental advances during the college years. Overall, a small-to-medium relationship was found between indicators of parental attachment quality and favorable adjustment outcomes (r = .23). Effect sizes were of similar magnitude for mother and father attachment relationships, for male and female students, and across ethnicity and nationality of the sample. The attachment adjustment relationship varied somewhat according to the developmental task being investigated in the study, showing the strongest association for the task of separation-individuation. Additionally, we found stronger attachment adjustment links for students residing away from their parents when compared with students living at home during college.