The relationship of attachment variables to career decision-making self-efficacy and fear of commitment

Career Development Quarterly, June, 2004 by Jessica B. Wolfe, Nancy E. Betz

  The present study indicated that both attachment bonds and self-rated
  attachment style were significantly related to fear of commitment and,
  to a lesser extent, career decision-making self-efficacy. Given
  previous research showing that fear of commitment is related to career
  indecisiveness and "floundering," the possible importance of attention
  to attachment bonds and styles in career counseling is suggested.

The quality of parental and peer attachment has been found to be related to many indices of adaptive behavior and functioning in college students and adults (e.g., Hinderlie & Kenny, 2002; Kenny & Perez, 1996; Lopez, 1995). With specific reference to career development, Blustein, Prezioso, and Schultheiss (1995) presented a strong theoretical rationale to explain why the experience of felt security provided by secure attachment relationships should facilitate exploration of the self and environment (Proposition 1, p. 425) and progress through career decision making and commitment processes (Proposition 2, p. 425).

Several studies have examined the relationship of attachment constructs to variables reflecting the quality of the career decision process. Blustein, Walbridge, Freidlander, and Palladino (1991) reported that for women, attachment was related to greater commitment to a career decision and less to a tendency to prematurely foreclose on a decision. For men, paternal attachment was more important than maternal attachment, and greater attachment to fathers was related to greater commitment to a career decision, although not to a tendency to foreclose on a decision. Felsman and Blustein (1999) found that greater peer attachment and moderate attachment to mother, but not to father, were related to progress in committing to a career choice. O'Brien, Friedman, Tipton, and Linn (2000) found small relationships of parental attachment to career decision-making self-efficacy (Betz, Klein, & Taylor, 1996) in college women.

The present study was designed to expand this knowledge base by examining the relationships of the quality of attachment bonds and attachment style to the career decision progress for college students. Career decision-making self-efficacy was the first index used because it has been shown to be a major indicator of adaptive career behavior in college students (Betz et al., 1996). One of the key aspects of progress in career decision making is willingness to explore the environment (requiring what Bandura, 1977, called "approach behavior"), and self-efficacy is postulated to facilitate such exploratory behavior. As an additional index, we used a measure of career indecisiveness, which has been distinguished by early career theorists from the construct of career indecision. Although career indecision has been viewed as a normal stage of development that most young adults resolve relatively easily with or without counseling or informational assistance (Fuqua & Hartman, 1983; Hartman, Fuqua, Blum, & Hartman, 1985), there is a subset of young people who have been called "achronically undecided" or indecisive (Goodstein, 1965; Hartman et al., 1985). The Fear of Commitment Scale (FOCS) was developed by Serling and Betz (1990) to measure the generalized fear of making a career decision (i.e., career indecisiveness) as postulated by earlier writers. A higher level of fear of commitment was found to be related to anxiety, self-esteem, and career indecision (Serling & Betz, 1990) and also to "floundering," indicated by many changes of college major. Fear of commitment is essentially a paralysis of the decisional process. Given attachment theory researchers' strong emphasis on the inhibition of exploration and growth-oriented behaviors caused by insecure attachment, possible relationships to career decision-making self-efficacy and fear of career commitment seem worthy of research attention.

Method

Participants

The sample we used for this study comprised 304 undergraduate students enrolled in an undergraduate psychology course at a large midwestern university. Students received course credit for participating. The sample consisted of 190 women (62%) and 114 men (38%). The mean age of the participants was 19.6 years (SD = 2.6). The ethnic composition of the participants in the sample was 77% Caucasian, 10% Asian American, 9% African American, 2% Hispanic, 2% biracial or multiracial, and .7% who did not indicate ethnicity. Of the participants, 75% were freshmen, 14% sophomores, 8% juniors, and 2% seniors.

Measures

Parental attachments and friendship bonds. The revised version of the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA; Armsden & Greenberg, 1987) was used to measure the security of parental attachments and friendship bonds. This 75-item measure comprises three separate 25-item scales developed to measure the quality of maternal, paternal, and friendship bonds. Each scale contains items assessing trust ("My mother (father) trusts my judgement"), quality of communication ("I tell my parents or friends about my problems and troubles"), and alienation ("My mother (father) has her own problems so I don't bother her with mine"). Participants respond to items using a 5-point Likert-style format that ranges from almost never or never true (1) to almost always or always true (5). Various studies support the reliability and validity of the scales of the IPPA (see Armsden & Greenberg, 1987; Lopez & Gover, 1993).