Effect Of Attachment Anxiety Research Articles

Attachment to friends and psychosocial well‐being: The role of emotion regulation

BackgroundAttachment insecurity is associated with poor mental health across the life span, and increasing evidence suggests that emotion regulation difficulties are implicated in these associations. To date, research has focused largely on adult attachment in the context of romantic relationships; however, close friendships are well‐established predictors of mental health and well‐being, and little is known about the influence of attachment in the context of close friendships on mental health, and the potential role of emotion regulation. The present research examined whether attachment to friends was associated with mental health and interpersonal functioning, and whether emotion regulation mediated these associations.MethodA sample of 243 adults (Mage = 20.91 years) completed an online questionnaire assessing attachment to friends, emotion regulation, mental health, and interpersonal functioning.ResultsEmotion dysregulation mediated the association between attachment anxiety and depression, anxiety, stress, and interpersonal distress. There were also direct effects of attachment anxiety on symptoms of anxiety and interpersonal distress. Emotion dysregulation did not mediate the association between attachment avoidance and psychosocial outcomes, though attachment avoidance directly predicted depression and interpersonal distress.ConclusionsThis research highlights that emotion dysregulation may be one mechanism underlying the association between anxious attachment to friends and poor psychosocial functioning. Clinical interventions may therefore benefit from assessing attachment in the context of friendships, and targeting emotion dysregulation for those high in attachment anxiety.

The Influence of Attachment Styles on Sexual Communication Behavior

Attachment theory is one of the major theoretical frameworks for understanding romantic relationships. Attachment styles are formed through interactions with caregivers and shape an individual’s expectations of subsequent interpersonal relationships. In this study, we examined how attachment styles influence participants’ ability to communicate with their partners about problems in their sexual relationship. A community sample of 81 couples engaged in two video-recorded discussions, one representing an aspect of the couple’s sexual relationship where the male partner wanted change and the second representing an aspect of the sexual relationship where the female partner wanted change. Conversations were then coded, with each person being rated on three positive communication dimensions (positive affect, offering solutions, and responsiveness) and three negative communication dimensions (hostility, negative affect, and unskilled communication behaviors). As predicted, attachment avoidance was related to more negative and less positive communication for both the individual and his or her partner. Our observational data did not reveal any significant effects of attachment anxiety on sexual communication. These results can be contrasted with findings from self-report studies that do suggest an anxious attachment adversely impacts sexual communication.

Much ado about your thing: Conflict structure moderates the effect of attachment anxiety on postconflict perceived self-partner overlap.

Much ado about your thing: Conflict structure moderates the effect of attachment anxiety on postconflict perceived self-partner overlap.

Narcissistic Vulnerability and Grandiosity as Mediators Between Insecure Attachment and Future Eating Disordered Behaviors: A Prospective Analysis of Over 2,000 Freshmen.

This study aimed to build on existing literature by examining the potential mediating role of two variants of narcissism (grandiosity and vulnerability) in explaining part of the underlying mechanism by which insecure (avoidant and anxiety) attachment affects behavioral elements of eating pathology (dieting and bulimic behaviors). Longitudinal data collected from 2,055 freshman college students (52.2% women; mean age 18.34 years) were analysed using a latent variable structural equation modelling approach, controlling for initial levels of the endogenous (i.e., dependent) latent variables and holding body mass index, anxiety, stress, depression, and self-esteem levels as time-varying covariates. The effect of attachment anxiety on future bulimic behaviors was fully mediated through vulnerable narcissism (i.e., no significant direct link between attachment anxiety and bulimic behaviors), whereas grandiose narcissism fully mediated the association between attachment avoidance and future dieting behaviors. Dieting also predicted future bulimic behaviors and served as an additional (full) mediator between grandiose narcissism and bulimic behaviors. Differences in the strength of these associations across gender were not observed, and all indirect effects were statistically significant. Overall, the findings (a) seem to support the theoretical postulations linking different insecure attachment experiences to different narcissistic tendencies, (b) imply that specific insecure attachment patterns may pass through different mediating pathways (narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability) to specific behavioral elements of eating pathology (dieting and bulimic behaviors) regardless of gender, and (c) suggest that individuals with high grandiose narcissistic levels may not be protected from bulimic behaviors as previously indicated.

関係相手の応答性に応じた共同規範の調節―愛着不安による調整効果―

関係相手の応答性に応じた共同規範の調節―愛着不安による調整効果―

Estimation of Controlled Direct Effects in the Presence of Exposure-Induced Confounding and Latent Variables

Estimation of the direct effect of an exposure on an outcome requires adjustment for confounders of the exposure–outcome and mediator–outcome relationships. When some of the latter confounders have been affected by the exposure, then standard regression adjustment is prone to possibly severe bias. The use of inverse probability weighting under so-called marginal structural models has recently been suggested as a solution in the psychological literature. In this article, we show how progress can alternatively be made via G-estimation. We show that this estimation method can be easily embedded within the structural equation modeling framework and could in particular be used for estimating direct effects in the presence of latent variables. Moreover, by avoiding inverse probability weighting, it accommodates the typical problem of unstable weights in the alternative estimation approaches based on marginal structural models. We illustrate the approach both by simulations and by the analysis of a longitudinal study in individiduals who ended a romantic relationship. In this example we explore whether the effect of attachment anxiety during the relationship on mental distress 2 years after the breakup is mediated by rumination or not.

An attachment perspective on anger among adolescents

Extending John Bowlby's hypothesis that dysfunctional anger is a predictable outcome of insecure attachments to parents, this study investigated the relationship between current parent-adolescent attachment and both the experience and expression of anger. Participants included 776 students (379 boys and 397 girls) in grades 8-12. As predicted by attachment theory, results of structural equation modeling analyses indicated that adolescents' self-reported attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance toward both mother and father figures were positively related to the adolescents' greater levels of self-reported anger intensity. In turn, greater intensity of anger was associated with higher levels of both internalizing (anger-in) and externalizing (anger-out) expressions. In addition, there was a direct effect of attachment anxiety on internalized but not externalized anger. This study highlights the importance of differentiating anger dimensions and the critical role of anger intensity as a mediator of the relationship between insecure attachment and anger expressions.

Effects of Attachment Anxiety and Avoidance on Negotiation Propensity and Performance

Individual differences have been shown to play an important role in negotiation outcomes, including initiation of negotiation and actual negotiation performance. Attachment theory, however, which i...

Effects of Attachment Representations, Rumination, and Trait Depression on Co-Rumination in Friendships: A Dyadic Analysis

The current study addressed whether attachment, rumination, and trait depression were predictive of co-rumination in dyadic friendships. The final sample consisted of 205 pairs of same-sex friends (Mage= 18.93 years,SD= 1.31) and 135 (66%) of the dyads were female. Results revealed that an individual's attachment avoidance was significantly related to their own (actor effect) and their friend's (partner effect) co-rumination. Gender moderated the (1) effect of attachment avoidance on co-rumination at the actor and partner levels and (2) effect of attachment anxiety on co-rumination at the partner level. Furthermore, an interaction emerged between friendship duration and trait depression on co-rumination at the actor level. Considering the adjustment trade-offs of co-rumination (e.g., closer friendship quality accompanied with greater levels of depression and anxiety), it is important to understand the predictors of co-rumination and the consequences of it in order to effectively apply intervention efforts.

The effects of adult romantic attachment anxiety and avoidance on facets of compliance

The aim of this study is to investigate the extent to which attachment anxiety and avoidance best explain the variation in scores on compliance factors 1 (difficulty with pressure) and 2 (eagerness to please and meet expectations), across males and females. 143 female and 100 male participants completed the Gudjonsson compliance scale, the relationship scale questionnaire and the life events questionnaire (to account for participants’ experience of negative life events, when estimating the effect of attachment on the compliance factors). Multivariate regression modelling showed that: (i) in both males and females, attachment avoidance alone explained a significant proportion of the variance in factor 1 scores; (ii) in females, both attachment avoidance and anxiety levels accounted for the variance in factor 2 scores (the effect of attachment anxiety emerged in the negative direction); and (iii) neither attachment anxiety nor attachment avoidance levels explained a significant amount of the variance in male factor 2 scores. This study suggests three possible mechanisms explaining the negative effect of attachment anxiety on factor 2 scores in females; one of which implying that eagerness to please tendencies may not always be a sign of psychological vulnerability, but could also reflect pro-social cooperation.

Flexible Mediation Analysis in the Presence of Nonlinear Relations: Beyond the Mediation Formula

In the social sciences, mediation analysis has typically been formulated in the context of linear models using the Baron & Kenny (1986) approach. Extensions to nonlinear models have been considered but lack formal justification. By placing mediation analysis within the counterfactual framework of causal inference one can define causal mediation effects in a way that is not tied to a specific statistical model and identify them under certain no unmeasured confounding assumptions. Corresponding estimation procedures using parametric or nonparametric models, based on the so-called mediation formula, have recently been proposed in the psychological literature and made accessible through the R-package mediation. A number of limitations of the latter approach are discussed and a more flexible approach using natural effects models is proposed as an alternative. The latter builds on the same counterfactual framework but enables interpretable and parsimonious modeling of direct and mediated effects and facilitates tests of hypotheses that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to test. We illustrate the approach in a study of individuals who ended a romantic relationship and explore whether the effect of attachment anxiety during the relationship on unwanted pursuit behavior after the breakup is mediated by negative affect during the breakup.

Effect of social support and coping style an attachment influencing on mental health

Objective To explore the direct effect of attachment and the indirect effect through coping style and social support on mental health in technical school students. Methods 372 technical school students were assessed by Experiences in Close Relationship' s Inventory ( ECR), Symptom Check Scale List-90 ( SCL90) ,Coping Style Scale For Secondary School Students( CSS)and Perceived Social Support Scale(PSSS). Results ( 1 ) Total score of SCL-90 had significant correlations with all index of attachment anxiety, parents attachment avoidance( r=0. 165 ～0.370, P＜0.01 ) ,with coping style focus on problem ( r=0.291 ～0.552, P＜0. 01 ) and perceived social support( r = -0. 245, P ＜ 0.01 ). (2)Coping style focus on emotion had significant correlations with attachment anxiety( r=0.237 ～0.383, P＜0.01 ) and coping style focus on problem had significant correlations with attachment avoidance( r= -0. 267 ～ -0. 403, P＜0. 01 ). (3) Perceived social support had significant negative correlations with attachment avoidance ( r= - 0. 425 ～ - 0. 459, P ＜ 0.01 ). (4) The coping style focus on emotion had 65.2% mediation effect between attachment anxiety and mental health and perceived social support was moderated by attachment avoidance. Conclusions ( 1 ) Attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance have direct effect on mental health. ( 2 ) The indirect effect of attachment anxiety on mental health is a lot mediating effect performed by the coping style focus on emotion. Attachment avoidance also indirectly influences on mental health by moderating perceived social support. Key words: Attachment; Coping style; Social support; Mediation effect; Moderating effect

Role of Attachment in Response to Pet Loss

This study examined the impact of attachment on grief severity following the death of a pet. Seventy-one participants who had lost a dog or cat within the past year completed a set of measures that included an attachment measure assessing individual differences in attachment anxiety and avoidance, strength of the past attachment to the pet, the continuing bond with the deceased pet, social support, and complicated grief symptoms. Attachment anxiety and strength of the past attachment to the pet were each uniquely predictive of more severe grief. Furthermore, the continuing bond to the deceased pet partially mediated the impact of strength of the past attachment to the pet on grief severity. No significant mediators of the effect of attachment anxiety on grief were found, however. The results highlight the importance of distinguishing strength of attachment from attachment security in examining the effect of attachment on response to pet loss.