The Relation between the Perceived Daughter-mother Relationship, Adult Attachment Styles, and Subjective Happiness among Female Lebanese Adults
Abstract
The adult-daughter’s attachment style to her mother has shown to possess an influential impact on the adult-daughter’s subjective well-being (i.e., subjective happiness) (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007; Lynch, 2011; Song, Thompson, & Ferrer, 2009; Lee & Hankin, 2009). Therefore, this study investigated the correlation between the adult-daughter’s subjective happiness, her perceived relationship with her mother, and the attachment style she has towards her mother in the Lebanese cultural context. A total of 150 Lebanese female adults participated in this study by filling a demographics questionnaire, the refined Mother Adult-Daughter Questionnaire (MAD) (Rastogi, 2002), the Adult Attachment Scale (AAS) (Collins & Read, 1990), and the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999). Pearson’s correlational analyses and stepwise regression were conducted to examine the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The results showed that the adult-daughter’s secure attachment to her mother positively correlates to her perceived subjective happiness; whereas, anxious and avoidant attachments negatively correlated to subjective happiness. Moreover, all elements of the mother-daughter relationship – interdependence, connectedness, and trust in hierarchy – positively correlated to subjective happiness. In conclusion, the Lebanese adult-daughter will report higher levels of subjective happiness when her relationship with her mother is perceived as secure and healthy.
Keywords: mother-daughter relationship, attachment styles, subjective happiness
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Citation
Al Haddad, N. (2018). The Relation between the Perceived Daughter-mother Relationship, Adult Attachment Styles, and Subjective Happiness among Female Lebanese Adults (SBS thesis, Haigazian University)