According to Bowlby, early attachment experiences with parents provide prototypes for later interpersonal relationships outside of family. The basic premise is that, based on early childhood experiences, people develop general expectations about relationships. Then once formalized into mental structures, these beliefs are resistant to changes and have implications for the nature of one's relationships across the life span. In the present study, interrelationships among adult perceptions of the early attachment experiences with parents, adult attachment style (AAS)), self-esteem, and two types of adult interpersonal relationships (love and friendship relationships) were examined. The hypotheses were that: early attachment experience would be able to discriminate adult attachment style and are related to self-esteem; adult attachment style would predict the quality of interpersonal relationships, with individuals with a secure attachment style more likely to report satisfying relationships; adult attachment style is predictive of individual's self-esteem which in turn influences the quality of close relationships.
The sample was comprised of 116 college students (73 females and 43 males). The results supported the hypothesis that early parent-child attachment experience is significantly related to adult attachment style, self-esteem, and quality of adult interpersonal functioning. AAS predicts individual's self-esteem. AAS and self-esteem are associated with quality of adult's interpersonal relationships. Further, the relationships are only significant for love relationships not for friendship relationships. In the domain of AAS, fathers have the predominate influence. In the domain of self-esteem, mothers play the most influential role. There is a continuous path linking early attachment experiences, AAS, self-esteem, and adult love relationships with a stronger effect for men than for women. The present study makes it possible to evaluate whether perceived mother-child or father-child attachment history is more consistently related to AAS, self-esteem, and the quality of close relationship in adulthood.