Emerging adulthood and loss experiences: Examination of attachment-based mental representations and psychological symptoms

The aim of this study is to examine the psychological symptoms and Attachment-Based Mental Representations of university students who experienced the death of first and second-degree relatives or the break-up of their romantic relationships. The sample consisted of 122 female and 102 male students. The age of the participants ranged between 18 and 29 with a mean of 21.31 years (SD = 1.90). Demographic Information Form, Brief Symptom Inventory and Attachment-Based Mental Representation Scale were used to collect data. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) results showed that there was no significant difference on Attachment Based Mental Representations among the groups. Therefore, all groups are assumed to be homogeneous in terms of attachment-based mental representations. To compar psychological symptom levels of the groups, ANOVA was also conducted. The results indicated that there were significant differences between the groups who lost their second-degree relatives and who break-up their romantic relationship. However, there was no significant differences between the groups who lost their first-degree relatives and who break-up their romantic relationships. Regression analysis revealed that negative self-representation and negative father-representation significantly predicted psychological symptoms of the group who experienced the break-up. Consequently, break-up of the romantic relationship is quite important for emerging adulthood. In addition, current study revealed that negative self-representation and negative father-representation of adolescents who experienced the break-up led to the risk factors for psychological symptoms.