ABSTRACT
Over 40% of beginning college students drop out (Witherspoon, Long, & Chubick, 1999), and a growing body of recent research suggests that secure parental attachment and family emotional support yield advantages in the transition and adjustment from high school to college life. One particular dimension of parental–adolescent attachment that the literature shows as being of central significance is perceived family emotional support (Kenny, 1990; Kenny & Donaldson, 1992; McCarthy, Brack, Brack, Liu, & Carlson, 1998; Windle & Miller-Tutzauer, 1992). This chapter reviews the basic aspects of attachment theory (Bowlby, 1988) as applied to adolescents, specifically, late adolescents, and suggests implications for counselors, marriage and family therapists, and student affairs personnel in working with this particular population.
