Attachment styles, social skills and loneliness in young adults

A total of 183 university students completed measures of attachment, social and emotional loneliness, and social skills. Results indicate that secure attachment and social skills are related on several significant dimensions. Other findings reveal that attachment security and social skills are significantly related to loneliness, representing a replication and extension of previous research (Riggio, Throckmorton, & DePaola, 1990). These results lend support to the notion that securely attached individuals are socially skilled, and that social competence is related to lower perceived levels of loneliness. Finally, regression analyses indicated that the link between secure and fearful attachment, and social loneliness was mediated, in part, by social skills. It is suggested that attachment theory may provide a useful framework for the study of social competence and adjustment. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.