The role of secure-base supervision and dispositional attachment in predicting supervisees’ research self-efficacy, curiosity, and satisfaction

Abstract

The present study explores the effects of secure-base supervision in predicting supervisees’ research self-efficacy, curiosity and exploration, and supervision satisfaction.

One hundred and eleven research supervisees completed an online survey.

Stepwise multiple regressions revealed that supervisors’ ability to provide a secure base predicts supervisees’ levels of research self-efficacy and supervision satisfaction and this effect was stronger for anxiously attached supervisees. Research self-efficacy mediates the relationship between secure-base supervision and curiosity and exploration as well as supervision satisfaction.

The results provide the first empirical evidence that attachment theory is a relevant framework that can be applied to academic supervisory relationships.