Cultivating Attachment: The Associations Among Past Television Exposure, Transportability, Self-Efficacy, and Attachment

ABSTRACT Using cultivation and attachment theories as the theoretical frameworks, this study examined two potential mediators in the associations between past television exposure and adult romantic attachment: romantic self-efficacy and transportability. The resulting analyses shed light on how television exposure during childhood and adolescence may have long-term impacts on adult attachment dimensions (i.e., attachment anxiety and avoidance). Findings indicate higher past overall and genre-specific television exposure directly and indirectly promotes higher attachment anxiety above the influence of parent and peer attachment; however, the direct and indirect relationships between past overall and genre-specific television exposure and attachment avoidance are more complex. These patterns of findings contribute to the body of literature on both attachment theory and cultivation analysis.