title: Relationship between attachment styles and happiness in medical students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Attachment theory is one of the most important achievements of contemporary psychology. Role of medical students in the community health is important, so we need to know about the situation of happiness and attachment style in these students.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study was aimed to assess the relationship between medical students' attachment styles and demographic characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study was conducted on randomly selected students of Medical Sciences in Kurdistan University, in 2012. To collect data, Hazan and Shaver's attachment style measure and the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire were used. The results were analyzed using the SPSS software version 16 (IBM, Chicago IL, USA) and statistical analysis was performed via t-test, Chi-square test, and multiple regression tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Secure attachment style was the most common attachment style and the least common was ambivalent attachment style. Avoidant attachment style was more common among single persons than married people (P= 0.03). No significant relationship was observed between attachment style and gender and grade point average of the studied people. The mean happiness score of students was 62.71. In multivariate analysis, the variables of secure attachment style (P= 0.001), male gender (P= 0.005), and scholar achievement (P= 0.047) were associated with higher happiness score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The most common attachment style was secure attachment style, which can be a positive prognostic factor in medical students, helping them to manage stress. Higher frequency of avoidant attachment style among single persons, compared with married people, is mainly due to their negative attitude toward others and failure to establish and maintain relationships with others.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran.
authors.forename: Marzyeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moghadam
authors.affiliation: Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran.
authors.forename: Farzin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rezaei
authors.affiliation: Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran.
authors.forename: Ebrahim
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ghaderi
authors.affiliation: Deputy of Research, Student Research Committee, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran.
authors.forename: Negar
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rostamian
keywords: Attachment styles; demographic characteristics; happiness; medical students