Adult attachment style and cortisol responses across the day in older adults

Tara Kidd,Mark Hamer,Andrew Steptoe

doi:10.1111/psyp.12075

Abstract

The association between cortisol and adult attachment style, an important indicator of social relationships, has been relatively unexplored. Previous research has examined adult attachment and acute cortisol responses to stress in the laboratory, but less is known about cortisol levels in everyday life. The present study examined adult romantic attachment style and cortisol responses across the day. Salivary cortisol was collected at six time points during the course of the day in 1,807 healthy men and women from a subsample of the Whitehall II cohort. Significant associations were found between attachment on cortisol across the day and slope of cortisol decline. The lowest cortisol output was associated with fearful attachment, with preoccupied attachment having the highest levels and a flatter cortisol profile. The results tentatively support the proposition that attachment style may contribute to HPA dysregulation.

Highlights

Attachment theory has been increasingly applied to understanding the development and progression of disease
This paper aims to expand on previous work by examining adult attachment style and cortisol response across the day in healthy older adults
Little is known regarding the association between attachment and cortisol awakening response (CAR), and the results of previous studies have been inconsistent (Adam & Gunnar, 2001; Quirin et al, 2008)

Summary

Introduction

Attachment theory has been increasingly applied to understanding the development and progression of disease. Individuals high in attachment avoidance tend to minimize feelings of distress and direct attention away from potential threat by maximizing autonomous behavior strategies. By combining these two dimensions, four prototypic attachment styles can be produced consisting of secure attachment (low anxiety/low avoidance) and three insecure styles of preoccupied (high anxiety/low avoidance), fearful (high anxiety/high avoidance), and dismissive (low anxiety/high avoidance) (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991; Kidd, Hamer, & Steptoe, 2011)

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