THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COPING STYLES, ATTACHMENT, AND CAREER SALIENCE IN PARTNERED WORKING WOMEN WITH CHILDREN

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the relationship be tween coping, career salience, attachment, and workplace variables in partnered, working women with children under 18 years old living at ho me. A second objective of this study was to determine the continued us efulness of Hall's (1972) coping styles scoring strategy for this popu lation. Women who were securely or avoidantly attached were more likel y to use Type I coping strategies in response to a hypothetical vignet te, while women who were ambivalently attached were more likely to eng age in Type III strategies. In describing actual dilemmas, more secure ly attached and fewer ambivalently attached women reported engaging in Type III behaviors, while fewer securely attached and more ambivalent ly attached women reporting using Type II strategies. No support was f ound for the relationship between coping styles, attachment and work e nvironment variables (flextime, company support, supervisory support). Implications for future research are discussed.