An investigation into attachment security and alcohol consumption

Abstract

The area of attachment and risk behaviours has been studied extensively, however, recently the relationship between attachment and alcohol consumption has gained interest. The present study aimed to investigate whether attachment quality could predict alcohol consumption in a young student sample, the hypothesis was: individuals with lower attachment quality are more likely to engage in a higher level of alcohol consumption than those with a higher attachment quality. The study consisted of 90 participants, 29 male and 61 female. The participants completed the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) and the AUDIT questionnaire. The results showed that attachment style does not predict alcohol consumption. Even though the results were insignificant the study did uncover some interesting results, the participants’ attachment to peers was the highest (M = 100.28, SD = 12.05), followed by maternal attachment (M = 98.02, SD = 17.19) and paternal attachment (M = 87.34, SD = 22.86); there was a statistically significant difference between paternal and peer attachment and maternal and paternal attachment and lastly, the AUDIT scores were high (M = 12.27, SD = 6.10) with 86% of the sample consuming alcohol above a sensible level.