Attachment representation and self -concept of students with learning disabilities at the community college level

This study examined the relationship between attachment representations and the self-concept of learning disabled (LD) students (n = 31) at the community college level. The Adult Attachment Projective (AAP) was used to measure attachment representation (secure vs. insecure) and the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale:2 (TSCS:2) was used to measure self-concept (personal, social, academic, and total self-concept) of the students. The study identifies two (6.5%) students with secure attachment representation and twenty-nine (93.5%) students with insecure attachment. Within the insecure attachment group three classification groups were identified: twelve (38.7%) detached, six (19.4%) preoccupied, and eleven (35.5%) unresolved. One sample t-tests determined that the average level of personal, social, academic, and total self-concept of LD students is significantly lower than the TSCS:2 standardization sample for similarly-aged, similarly educated students. Based on the AAP, students were classified as being high, medium, or low in the content codes of Agency of Self and Connectedness. The self concept scores, based on the TSCS:2, were compared across the three levels of Agency of Self and not found to differ. When the self-concept scores were compared across the three levels of Connectedness, the groups were found to differ only with respect to social self-concept, and not with respect to their personal, academic, or total self-concept. Specifically, the highest level of Connectedness was significantly higher in social self-concept than either the low or medium level of Connectedness groups. However, the lowest two groups did not differ. In addition, statistical significance was not found when ANOVA tests were run to compare the total or domain self-concepts with the insecure group classifications of detached and unresolved individuals