An Examination of the Relationship Among Adult Attachment Style, Attachment To God, and Spiritual Development in Counselors and Counselor Trainees

Kun Wang

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D)

Department

Counseling

Date of Award

Summer 2013

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between adult attachment, attachment to God, and spiritual development. Three exploratory factor analyses were conducted on the instruments (Adult Attachment Questionnaire, Attachment to God Inventory, and the Spiritual Experience Index-Revised) used in the study. Factor analyses revealed three salient factors for the scores on each instrument. The factors for the Adult Attachment Questionnaire (AAQ) were adult anxious attachment, adult avoidant attachment, and adult dependent attachment. On the Attachment to God Inventory (AGI), the revealed factors were avoidant attachment to God, anxious attachment to God, and dependent attachment to God. The identified factors for the Spiritual Experience Index-Revised (SEI-R) were spiritual support, spiritual openness, and positive worldview. Using factor scores as predictor variables on the AAQ and AGI and criterion variables on the SEI-R, three multiple regression analyses revealed statistically significant relationships between the six predictors and spiritual support (p < .001), spiritual openness (p < .001) and positive worldview (p < .01). Descriptive statistics indicated high levels of secure adult attachment, attachment to God and spiritual development. Implications and recommendations for counselor educators are provided.

Advisor

Stephen Armstrong

Subject Categories

Counseling | Social and Behavioral Sciences

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