Attachment Styles and Life Satisfaction Among International School Alumni in Thailand: The Mediating Role of Coping Styles

This study examined the associations between attachment styles toward the mother/mother figure and life satisfaction, as well as the mediating role of coping styles among Thai international school alumni. Participants (N = 120) were young adults aged 18 to 29 who had completed their education in an international school in Thailand while living at home with their families. Participants were asked to complete self-report measures assessing avoidant and anxious attachment toward the mother, coping styles, and life satisfaction. Correlational analyses and mediation analyses using Hayes’ PROCESS macro (Model 4) were conducted to examine the relationships among the study variables and the mediating role of coping styles. Anxious attachment toward the mother was indirectly associated with life satisfaction through avoidant coping (indirect effect = −0.09, 95% CI [−0.22, −0.00]). Avoidant attachment toward the mother was directly associated with lower life satisfaction (β = −.21 to −.22, p < .05). Across models, problem-focused coping was positively associated with life satisfaction, avoidant coping was negatively associated, and emotion-focused coping was not significantly associated with life satisfaction. These findings underscore the distinct contributions of maternal attachment experiences and highlight avoidant coping as a key mechanism linking insecure attachment to reduced life satisfaction among Thai international school alumni.