University students’ friendship networks: Ambivalence and the role of attachment and personality

peer reviewedGiven the importance of friendships throughout the life span and the possible experience of ambivalence within these relationships, the present study aims at examining the role that attachment and personality dimensions may play in this experience. University students (N = 87) completed an online survey, including the Big Five Inventory-10 (BFI-10), the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ), as well as a two-item scale and an emotion checklist as two measures of ambivalence towards their friends. The correlation analysis revealed significant correlations between the ambivalence measures and secure attachment, fearful attachment, neuroticism, and agreeableness. A subsequent regression analysis demonstrated that fearful attachment, neuroticism, agreeableness, and gender can explain a considerable amount of variation in the degree of ambivalence. The results indicate that both certain attachment dimensions and certain personality dimensions predict the experience of ambivalence, although their importance may vary depending on the object of ambivalence