The Relationship between Attachment Styles and Tehrani High School Students’ Academic Achievement

M. Ghadami, Ph D

The purpose of present research was to examine the relationship between attachment styles and Tehrani high school boys’ academic achievement. This study was a non-experimental, correlational one. The sample size was determined to be 300 according to Morgan Table and multi-stage sampling method was utilized. The instrumentation comprised Attachment Styles Questionnaire consisting of 21 items which measured secure, avoidant, and ambivalent attachment styles. In addition, students’ GPAs in an academic year were used as indicators of academic achievement. Descriptive and inferential statistics (multiple regression) were used for data analysis. Results showed that attachment styles scores could predict students’ academic achievement. Secure attachment style had more predictive power than avoidant and ambivalent styles. Furthermore, there was a significant, positive relationship between secure attachment style and academic achievement, whereas a significant, negative association was observed between avoidant and ambivalent styles and academic achievement. In fact, secure attachment style facilitates students’ learning and hinders difficulties and academic failure.

Key words: attachment style, secure attachment style, avoidant attachment style, ambivalent attachment style, academic achievement