老年人依恋对生活满意度的影响:孤独感的中介作用

Older Adults' Attachment Affects Their Satisfaction with Life: The Mediating Effect of Loneliness

选取湖北省和湖南省六个县市310名老年人,采用感情和社交孤独问卷(ESLS)、生活满意度量表(SWLS)和亲密关系经历量表(ECR)进行测量。运用偏差矫正百分位的非参数Bootstrap方法探讨老年人孤独感在依恋与生活满意度之间的中介作用。结果表明:(1)依恋的回避和焦虑两个维度均与孤独感呈显著正相关,与生活满意度呈显著负相关,孤独感与生活满意度呈显著负相关;(2)孤独感在依恋回避与生活满意度之间起部分中介作用,在依恋焦虑与生活满意度之间起完全中介作用。降低老年人孤独感水平可以缓解不安全依恋对其生活满意度的消极影响。

With the increase of the number of older adults, how to improve their satisfaction with life has become one of the foci of the aging research. Some studies have confirmed that loneliness could predict the satisfaction with life （Angelini, Cavapozzi, Corazzini, ＆ Paccagnella, 2012）. Similarly, the research indicated that secure attachment could predict positively individual satisfaction with life and predict negatively individual loneliness; however, insecure attachment could predict negatively individual satisfaction with life and predict positively individual loneliness （Dykas, Matthew, Cassidy, ＆ Jude, 2011; Gilhooly, 2011; Merz ＆ Consedine, 2012）. Adults＇ attachment has two dimensions： attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety （Brennan, Clark, ＆ Shaver, 1998）. In sum, the previous research has investigated the relationship between older adults＇ satisfaction with life and such factors as loneliness and attachment. However, few studies explore the effect of avoidance and anxiety of attachment on older adult＇s satisfaction with life. The present study aimed to explore the relations of older adults＇ satisfaction with life to their loneliness and avoidance and anxiety of attachment, and to explore the mediating effect of loneliness between attachment and satisfaction with life. In the present study, Emotional versus Social Loneliness Scale （ESLS）, Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory （ECR） and Satisfaction with life Scale （SWLS） were administered to 310 older adults from six counties or cities of Hubei Province and Hunan Province in China to investigate the relationship between older adults＇ attachment and their satisfaction with life as well as the mediation effect of loneliness by the nonparametric bias- corrected percentile Bootstrap method. The results were as follows. 1. The correlation among all variables were significant： both older adults＇ avoidance of anxiety and their anxiety of attachment were positively correlated with their loneliness （r=.68,p〈.01; r=.43,p〈.01）, and were negatively correlated with their satisfaction with life （r=-.59,p〈.01; r--- .34,p〈.01）, and meanwhile, their loneliness was negatively correlated with their satisfaction with life （r=.70,p〈.01）. 2. Regression analysis indicated that older adults＇ avoidance of attachment or anxiety of attachment could negatively predict their satisfaction with life （β=.26, t=- 10.83,p〈.001; β=-.09, t=-4.31,p〈.001 ）, and older adults＇ avoidance of attachment or anxiety of attachment could positively predict their loneliness （β=.42, t=-14.80,p〈.001; β=.l 8, t=-7.31,p〈.001）. 3. The nonparametric bias-corrected percentile Bootstrap method was used to analyze the mediating effect of loneliness, indicating that loneliness had different mediation effects for anxiety of attachment and avoidance of attachment： loneliness partially mediated the relationship between avoidance of attachment and satisfaction with life; however, it fully mediated the relationship between anxiety of attachment and satisfaction with life. From the results above, we can draw the conclusion that the negative effect of older adults＇ insecure attachment on their satisfaction with life can be alleviated by alleviating their feeling of loneliness despite the stability of older adults＇ attachment.