Abstract

Objectives This study examines the mediating effect of internalized shame in the relationship between unstable adult attachment and ambivalence over emotional expression of college students who are in the early adulthood, who must accomplish the developmental task of ‘formation of intimacy’ in the psychosocial development stage. This study identified the process that affects the ambivalence over emotional expression according to the adult attachment type of college students. And it is expected that this study will suggest the direction of counseling and program development or psychological education intervention for college students in the future. Methods For this study, we conducted a survey by conveniently sampling 242 college students aged 18 years or older who are currently attending or taking a leave of absence from domestic universities. We used SPSS 22.0 for the data analysis of this study, and performed frequency analysis for the demographic variables of the study subject and verification of the reliability of the scale(Cronbach'α). In addition, we conducted Pearson correlation analysis to identify the relationship between variables, and conducted three-step multiple regression analysis and sobel test to verify the mediating effect of internalized shame. Results First, the results of analyzing the correlations between each variable of college students' unstable adult attachment, internalized shame, and ambivalence over emotional expression all showed significant positive correlations. Second, as a result of examining the mediating effect of internalized shame by classifying unstable adult attachment into sub-variables, attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance, it was partially mediated between attachment anxiety and emotional expression ambivalence. On the other hand, it completely mediated between attachment avoidance and emotional expression ambivalence. Conclusions This study shows that college students with unstable adult attachment type are more likely to feel shame, such as incompetent or inappropriately experiencing themselves, by internalizing negative evaluations and experiences from important subjects in the past. In addition, it was shown that this again leads to psychological conflicts due to hesitation and habitual inhibition of emotional expression.

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