THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATTACHMENT PROTOTYPES, SELF-ESTEEM, LONELINESS AND CAUSAL ATTRIBUTIONS IN CHINESE TRAINEE TEACHERS

The applicability of using the four-category model (Bartholomew and Ho rowitz, 1991) in classifying Chinese adults into four adult attachment prototypes: secure, dismissing, preoccupied, and fearful was explored . The impact of attachment styles on self-esteem, loneliness, and caus al attribution on classroom events was also investigated. Two hundred and twenty-five student-teachers completed a self-report Attachment St yle Inventory, and measures of self-esteem, loneliness, and attributio nal style. Results indicated that subjects with a preoccupied, dismiss ing, and fearful attachment were lower in self-esteem than their secur e counterparts, while secure and dismissing subjects had higher self-e steem than the preoccupied group. The fearful group was the most lonel y, followed by the preoccupied and then the dismissing with the secure group being the least lonely. While differences in attributional styl es were found between the high self-esteem group and the low self-este em group, the impact of attachment styles on attributional pattern was less obvious. The results suggest that the four attachment prototypes can be identified in Chinese individuals and that the quality of adul t attachment has some influence on social functioning. (C) 1998 Elsevi er Science Ltd. All rights reserved.