ATTACHMENT STYLES AS PREDICTORS OF ADAPTATION STRATEGIES OF AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS IN UNITED KINGDOM

Abstract

People who migrate from their countries to foreign countries with their culture and values consciously or unconsciously elect how they would interact with the people in the new location, though, this is largely determined by the acculturation strategy adopted by the individuals. The present study investigates the extent to which attachment style influences how individuals who relocates to another country adapts to the culture in their new environment. The study focuses on four identified attachment styles in social psychological literature which includes: secure attachment, fearful, dismissive and preoccupied attachment styles and their influence on adaptations, i.e. integration, marginalisation, separation and assimilation.The study was conducted online. Nigerians and other African immigrants residing in London were invited to fill an online questionnaire. Snowball approach was used to get respondents who were 3000 in all. The two measures adopted in the research included: Attachment Styles Scales developed by Hazen & Shaver (1987) and Acculturation Strategy Scale developed by (Berry 1994). The data collected was analysed using a Simple Regression analysis, Chi square and Pearson coefficient correlation analysis. The results of the hypotheses tested showed that secure attachment style has a significant influence on the adoption of integration strategy in acculturation, the study also found a significant positive relationship between fearful attachment style and separation adaptation strategy. Moreover, preoccupied attachment style was found to be significantly related to marginalisation strategy. However, the result was unable to find any significant relationship between dismissive style and marginalisation strategy. The study discussed the implications of the findings on intergroup relations of migrants and their hosts.