Secure Attachment Representation in Adolescence Buffers Heart-Rate Reactivity in Response to Attachment-Related Stressors.

Manuela Gander,Cornelia Doyen-Waldecker,Alexander Karabatsiakis,Anna Buchheim,Katharina Nuderscher,Dorothee Bernheim

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2022.806987

Manuela Gander, Cornelia Doyen-Waldecker + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2022.806987

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Abstract

To date, we know very little about the effects of the differences in attachment classifications on the physiological correlates of stress regulation in adolescent age groups. The present study examined for the first time heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) during an attachment interview in adolescents. HR and HRV data were collected during a baseline assessment as well as during the administration of the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP) in a community-based sample of 56 adolescents (26 females and 30 males, mean age = 16.05 years [SD = 1.10]). We additionally used the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) in 50% of our sample to test the convergent validity. Adolescents with a secure attachment representation showed a higher HRV from baseline to the AAP interview compared to those with an insecure-dismissing (Ds) and the unresolved group. A comparison between the two insecure attachment groups showed no significant difference related to HR and HRV. Cohen’s Kappa (κ = 0.81) revealed an almost perfect agreement between the AAP and the AAI for the four-group classification. Our results indicate that adolescents with a secure attachment representation are more capable of dealing with attachment-related distress which is represented in higher HRV during an attachment interview.

Highlights

Over the last decades literature reported a strong increase in studies focusing on the psychological, physiological, and neurobiological underpinnings of attachment (Fox and Hane, 2008; Diamond and Fagundes, 2010; Gander and Buchheim, 2015) that can influence various affective and social behaviors in humans
The lower heart rate variability (HRV) in Ds and unresolved individuals suggests that they experience more physiological stress during the attachment interview than those with a secure attachment pattern
The majority of individuals were classified with a secure or an Ds attachment representation in the Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP) and the Attachment Interview (AAI)

Summary

Introduction

Over the last decades literature reported a strong increase in studies focusing on the psychological, physiological, and neurobiological underpinnings of attachment (Fox and Hane, 2008; Diamond and Fagundes, 2010; Gander and Buchheim, 2015) that can influence various affective and social behaviors in humans. Attachment and Psychophysiological Stress Response in Adolescence effect on how individuals respond to attachment-related stressors. Research suggests that a secure attachment quality represents an important buffer for the physiological reactivity to stressful situations as secure individuals can balance attachment and exploration, they can use their attachment figures as a “safe haven” and they can more openly express their emotions (Diamond and Fagundes, 2010). Insecure attachment representations are rather associated with deficits in emotion regulation. These individuals either demonstrate more feelings of anger and less autonomy (ambivalent/preoccupied) or they deactivate their attachment distress (avoidant/dismissing) that leads to a heightened physiological reactivity during attachment-related stressors (Gander and Buchheim, 2015)

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