2016 Theses Doctoral

Adult attachment, acculturation, and psychological well-being in Chinese/Taiwanese immigrants

Weng, Wan-Chen

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among adult attachment, acculturation, and psychological well-being in Chinese/ Taiwanese immigrants. Specifically, the present study examined how adult attachment predicted psychological well-being and how acculturation moderated the relationship between adult attachment and psychological well-being. Adult attachment was measured by two dimensions, attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance. Acculturation was measured by two domains, behavioral aspect and psychological aspect of acculturation. Bivariate correlation analyses on attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance and psychological well-being were conducted. The results suggested that both attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were significantly negatively associated with psychological well-being. In addition, hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed where attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were entered as predictor variables; acculturation towards Chinese orientation, acculturation towards American orientation and Asian cultural values as moderating variables; psychological well-being as the outcome variable. The results indicated that acculturation towards American orientation moderated the relationship between attachment anxiety and psychological well-being and the relationship between attachment avoidance and psychological well-being. The findings and discussions, limitations, implications for future research, clinical practice and training were addressed.