Attachment and Student Success During the Transition to College

We used 2 studies to examine attachment security and college student success. In the 1st study, 85 first-semester students provided information on attachment dimensions and psychological, ethical, and social indices. More anxious students performed worse academically in college than they had in high school and indicated they would be more willing to cheat; they also scored lower on measures of academic locus of control and self-esteem than their peers. Securely attached students reported low levels of depression and anxiety. Findings were supported with regression analysis conducted with controls for attachment avoidance, high school grade-point average, and gender. A 2nd follow-up study showed that college students who had plagiarized papers reported high levels of attachment anxiety. The contribution of attachment theory to academic advising is discussed.