The Relationship Between Attachment Styles and Love Attitudes of Undergraduate Nursing Students

Exploring the attachment styles and love attitudes of young nursing candidates sheds light on their personal and interpersonal experiences. This study aimed to examine undergraduate nursing students' attachment styles and love attitudes and the relationship between them.

This study was conducted at a state university in northern Turkiye, with 335 undergraduate nursing students completing the Relationship Questionnaire Survey (RQS) and the Love Attitudes Scale (LAS). The study used a cross-sectional design and the convenience sampling method. [Correction added on 27 January 2026, after first online publication: the blinding was not removed from the ‘Design and Methods’ section of the abstract prior to original publication, and the original version read “This study was conducted at a state university in northern X”. This has been corrected to “This study was conducted at a state university in northern Turkiye” in this version.]

The results of the correlation analysis of the scores obtained from the participants' responses indicated a negative relationship between secure attachment and mania love. Conversely, positive correlations were identified between secure attachment and storge love, obsessive attachment and mania love, fearful attachment and mania love and indifferent attachment and pragma love.

It is very important for university students, especially nursing students, to protect and strengthen their own emotional well-being and that of those they care for. It is necessary to develop special educational content and establish psychosocial support units tailored to young nursing candidates that promote secure attachment and functional close relationships. Additionally, grounding educational content and psychosocial support units in self-compassion, self-esteem and physical and spiritual empowerment is crucial. The effectiveness of these initiatives must be rigorously evaluated to ascertain their impact.