Author(s): Cansu TOK, AyÅe Dilek ÃÄRETÄ°R ÃZÃELÄ°K
Attachment which is stated as strong emotional bonds that people harbor for those whom they consider important has been studied for many years by researchers. In Attachment Theory, it is suggested that the attachment patterns formed in the first years of life are transferred to later periods of life without undergoing much of a change through internal working models. And as for social anxiety which is seen predominantly in adolescence period, may pose an obstacle for individuals regarding achieving tasks of growing that will make the healthy transition possible to adulthood stage and prevent adolescents to bond and maintain social relationships. Furthermore, social anxiety may impact adolescents’ personality developments and their academic achievements since they may not be able to show the actual potential they have. For this reason, in the research it is aimed to analyze the relationship between attachment styles and social anxiety levels in adolescents in middle school. The research study group consists of 390 students from the 6th, 7th and 8thgrades in different middle schools of Afyon in the 2016-2017 school year. The data in the research was collected through “Attachment Scale in Early Adolescents” developed by Koçak Delen (2003) and “Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents” (SASA) adapted into Turkish by Ayd?n and Tekinsav Sütçü (2007) as the data collection tools. In addition, the personal information form created by the researcher has been used. As a result of the analyses conducted, it is found that there is a significant connection between social anxiety and attachment styles for adolescents. While parental attachment styles of students do not seem to differ from each other in terms of gender, female students’ points came higher in terms of avoidance and feeling of uneasiness on new situations which are the sub dimension of social anxiety for female students. Number of siblings is found to have no influence on parental attachment styles and social anxiety levels.
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