Fear Of Intimacy Research Articles

Alcohol-induced risky sexual behavior among socially anxious drinkers

Heavy college drinking is associated with risky sexual behavior. It is therefore important to identify groups that are especially vulnerable to alcohol-influenced sexual risk (e.g., unplanned/unexpected sex). Undergraduates with elevated social anxiety represent one such vulnerable group given that social anxiety is associated with fear of intimacy and heavier drinking in intimate situations and situations with expected negative affect. Drinking to cope with negative affect induced by fear of intimacy might render socially anxious undergraduates vulnerable to risky sexual behavior, yet no known studies have examined this relationship. The current study tested whether social anxiety was related to alcohol-related sexual behaviors among current (past-month) drinking undergraduates (88.1% female; 77.6% non-Hispanic Caucasian) with higher (i.e., clinically elevated) social anxiety (HSA; n = 40) or lower (more normative) social anxiety (LSA; n = 94). Coping motives were examined as a moderator of the social anxiety-risky sexual behavior relationship. Gender was a covariate. HSA students reported more frequent alcohol-influenced sexual risk including regretted sexual situations, unprotected sex, sex with unwanted partners, unwanted sex, pressured/forced to have sex, and pressured someone to have sex. Coping motives significantly interacted with social anxiety group in the prediction of risky sexual behaviors except regretted sexual situations, such that HSA students with greater coping motives experienced more frequent sexual risk when drinking. Findings indicate that HSA students may be particularly vulnerable to risky sexual behaviors and suggest that coping motivated drinking may be an important target for therapeutic interventions geared toward reducing risky sexual behaviors among this high-risk population.

Exploration of Mediators between Family Differentiation and Fear of Intimacy among Adolescents: Maladaptive Perfectism and Maladaptive Cognitive Emotion Regulation

Exploration of Mediators between Family Differentiation and Fear of Intimacy among Adolescents: Maladaptive Perfectism and Maladaptive Cognitive Emotion Regulation

Adult Attachment Styles in Romantic Relationships in University Students: Relationship Addiction, Fear-of-Intimacy, and Interpersonal Competence

Adult Attachment Styles in Romantic Relationships in University Students: Relationship Addiction, Fear-of-Intimacy, and Interpersonal Competence

Gender Role Conflict and Emotional Mid-life Crisis in Men : The Mediating Role of Fear of Intimacy

Gender Role Conflict and Emotional Mid-life Crisis in Men : The Mediating Role of Fear of Intimacy

Developmental Transformations Art Therapy: An Embodied, Interactional Approach

A new method of art therapy is described, based on Developmental Transformations, in which the therapist participates in joint art making with a client. The therapist's task is to present a graduated set of interpersonal demands on the client through the artwork, helping the client find adaptive responses to accommodations required by others, as well as reducing the client's fears of intimacy and encounter. The authors describe the principles, procedures, and specific techniques of the approach, and then present a case example illustrating the process. The advantages and limitations of this dialogic and interactive art therapy methodology are discussed.

Peur de l’intimité dans la relation amoureuse adolescente : implication de l’attachement parental et de l’attachement romantique

Teen dating is a developmental stage questioning dramatically the relationships to be expected with others, especially when feelings of tenderness and love are involved. It mobilizes parental attachment and the internal working models related to it, while being colored by the emerging romantic attachment and its brand new internal working models. Attachments are deeply shaped by a dynamic interaction whereby the self tries to figure out how to reach security and autonomy still taking the other into account. This considered, intimacy also implies a dynamic feature: on the one hand, closeness and sharing of feelings and/or experiences, and on the other hand, individuality and maintaining of one's ego. However, just like attachments may be insecure, a fear of intimacy cannot be underestimated during dating. Eventually, bearing in mind the societal and cultural components of attachment and intimacy, gendered explanations cannot be ignored, especially during adolescence. ObjectivesThree hypotheses are being tested. First, the continuity from parental to romantic attachment is postulated, meaning that a secure, preoccupied or dismissing attachment to parents might lead to a subsequent secure, preoccupied or dismissing attachment to romantic partners. Second, the influence of parental attachment on the fear of intimacy during teen dating is questioned. The difficult dynamic of closeness/individuality might be explained by the parental attachment's patterns. Third, the impact of romantic attachment on the fear of intimacy during teen dating is assessed. Also, dating characteristics such as number of love relationships, age of the first dating experience and the longest lasting relationship are studied and put in perspective with the romantic attachment. Materials and methodsThe initial sample is made of 283 Belgian students (61% girls) from different teaching systems, aged of 16–22 years old (mean age: 17.43), and 232 of them had already had a dating experience by this time. They were questioned about dating characteristics such as number of love relationships, age of the first dating experience and the longest lasting relationship. Two questionnaires were also self-administered: the Behavioral Systems Questionnaire (assessing attachment) and the Fear of Intimacy Scale. Statistical analyses such as Pearson Chi2, Anova and Post-Hoc LSD were carried out. ResultsFirst, we cannot see any continuity between parental and romantic attachment. Second, dismissing attachment to parents fosters the fear on intimacy, compared to secure profiles; this is especially true for dismissing girls. Third, dismissing and preoccupied attachments to romantic partners foster the fear of intimacy, compared to secure profiles; this is especially true for dismissing and even more for preoccupied boys. Also, preoccupied attachment to romantic partners fosters the multiplication of datings, compared to secure; this is especially true for preoccupied and even more for dismissing girls. Finally, there is no effect of romantic attachment on the age of the first dating experience or on the longest lasting relationship. ConclusionParental and romantic attachments are involved in the fear of intimacy experienced by adolescents during dating. Still, attachment styles’ influence seems different for girls and boys, and highlights the need to distinguish girls’ from boys’ teen dating experiences.

Predicting perceived infidelity from gender and interpersonal traits

This study investigated whether perceived infidelity may be predicted from gender, communion, fear of intimacy, and rejection sensitivity. Undergraduates (272 women, 82 men) completed a questionnaire assessing these variables. MANOVA and regression analyses revealed that women, high-communion individuals, and low fear-of-intimacy individuals were more likely to perceive sex-based acts (e.g. sexual intercourse) and emotion-based acts (e.g. falling in love without acting on the feelings) as constituting infidelity, compared to men, low-communion individuals, and high fear-of-intimacy individuals, respectively. Rejection sensitivity did not predict perceived infidelity. This research has implications for perceived threats being a function of one's level of commitment to their romantic relationship, and applications for partners in counseling to work on the relationship and understand one another better.

Development of the Fear of Intimacy Components Questionnaire (FICQ)

Abstract. We developed a new instrument designed to measure fear of intimacy in romantic relationships. We suggest assessing fear of intimacy through two dimensions: self-revelation and dependence. The Fear of Intimacy Components Questionnaire (FICQ) was validated across three studies in which a 10-item solution systematically emerged. Consistently with a two component perspective, a two-factor solution fitted data the best: fear of losing the self (FLS) and fear of losing the other (FLO). Qualitative analyses verified content validity. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses tested the factor structure. Multigroup analyses supported the structural invariance across gender, age, and relationship status. Both factors showed adequate discriminant validity and internal consistency, and good 3-week period test-retest reliability. Associations between the FICQ and insecure attachment orientations demonstrated convergent validity. The association between the FICQ and relationship satisfaction above and beyond a preexisting measure offered criterion validity. By going beyond traditional self-revelation-focused conception of fear of intimacy, that is, by proposing a bi-dimensional structure to fear of intimacy, we believe that this new measure will contribute to future research on fear of intimacy.

Fear of Death in Gulliver's Travels

Critics pay little attention to fear of death in Gulliver’s Travels . This paper aims to deal with the issue with Freud’s theory. According to Freud, fear of death results in death drive. In Gulliver’s Travels , the episodes of the Struldbruggs and the Houyhnhnms reveal fear of death. In the episode of Struldbruggs, fear of death is illustrated through fear of abandonment and fear of loss. Fear of abandonment and fear of loss cause the Struldbruggs to long for physical death to end emotional death. In the episode of Houyhnhnms, fear of death is represented by fear of intimacy. Fear of intimacy is expressed in Houyhnhnms’ cold attitudes to their friends and their family members.

The Mediating Effect of Traumatized Self-System between Fear of Intimacy and Exposure to Interpersonal Trauma: Multi-Group Analysis upon Self-Compassion Level

본 연구는 대학생을 대상으로 대인간 외상 경험이 친밀감에 대한 두려움에 미치는 영향과 자기체계 손상의 매개효과를 탐색하고, 이러한 관련성이 자기자비 수준에 따라 차이가 있는지를 검증하고자 하였다, 이를 위하여 수도권 소재 대학에 재학중인 남녀 대학생 350명을 대상으로 설문조사하였고, 최종적으로 300명을 분석 대상으로 하였다. 분석 결과, 대인간 외상 경험과 친밀감에 대한 두려움, 자기체계 손상간에는 유의미한 정적 관련성이 나타난 반면, 자기자비와는 부적 관련성을 나타냈다. 또한 대인간 외상경험이 친밀감에 대한 두려움에 미치는 영향에서 자기체계 손상이 완전매개 변인으로서의 역할을 하였다. 이러한 자기체계 손상의 완전매개 효과가 자기자비 수준에 따라 차이가 있는지를 다집단 분석을 통해 검증한 결과, 자비수준의 낮고 높은 두 집단 간에는 유의미한 차이가 발견되지 않았다. 즉 두 집단 모두에서 자기체계 손상이 완전매개 변인으로서의 역할을 하였다. 단, 자기자비 수준이 높은 집단에서 대인간 외상 경험이 자기체계 손상에 미치는 영향과 자기체계 손상이 친밀감에 대한 두려움에 미치는 영향력이 다소 컸다. 이러한 연구 결과를 바탕으로 대인간 외상 경험자에 대한 상담적 개입에서 친밀감에 대한 두려움, 자기체계 손상과 자기자비에 대한 평가와 개입이 필요함을 강조하였다.

Fear of intimacy among couples: dyadic and mediating effects of parental inhibition of exploration and individuality and partner attachment

This study tests a dyadic model in which parental attachment recollected from adolescence [namely, the dimension of inhibition of exploration and individuality (IEI)] would predict fear of intimacy through the mediating role of adult romantic attachment (avoidance and attachment). Data were collected from 249 romantic couples in a relationship for more than 2 years. After controlling for age and relationship status, we found a partner-anxiety effect on female fear of intimacy (namely, female fear of losing the self). For both males and females, romantic attachment relates to fear of intimacy. An indirect effect of IEI-mother on fear of intimacy via romantic attachment was yet found for females.

Stronger Than You Know by Jolene Perry (review)

Reviewed by: Stronger Than You Know by Jolene Perry Karen Coats Perry, Jolene Stronger Than You Know. Whitman, 2014 [244p] ISBN 978-0-8075-3155-6 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 8-12 Joy was reared by an abusive, drug-addicted mother who forbade her to step outside their trailer and brought home men who molested her daughter. Now she lives with her mother’s sister, Nicole, and her family, which includes her uncle Rob and twin cousins, Tara and Trent, a year older than her fifteen. While she marvels at their kindness, she has a hard time trusting it until Uncle Rob confides in her that he lost a sister to suicide and sees in Joy, at least in part, an opportunity to be wiser and more attentive to someone else’s pain. Nicole feels guilty for not intervening sooner as well, and between Nicole, Uncle Rob, a therapist, and some new friends, Joy slowly works through the panic attacks, nightmares, and fear of intimacy that are the aftermath of her traumatic past. While Perry is careful not to be overly graphic about the abuses Joy suffered, she is not subtle about the residual effects, and deftly shows how seemingly insignificant everyday circumstances—a whiff of cigarette smoke, the smell of beer, the rumble of a deep male voice, being bumped in the hallway at school—can trigger episodes of anxiety and panic. Joy’s new family members give her space and support in equal measures, negotiating their need to protect her and her instincts to isolate and defend. Perry manages to convey Joy’s gradual growth without resorting to pamphlet-speak, but moreover she offers a portrait, rare in YA, of the way compassionate, functional families work and the good effects they can produce. [End Page 119] Copyright © 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

The Moderating Role of Attachment Styles on the Relationship of Alexithymia and Fear of Intimacy with Marital Satisfaction

Attachment styles, alexithymia, and fear of intimacy are considered to be detrimental to degree of satisfactionwithin the couples relationships. The present study aimed to investigate the moderating role of attachment styleson the relationship of alexithymia and fear of intimacy with marital satisfaction in a sample of Iranian students.Participants (313 males, 375 females) filled the Adult Attachment Inventory (AAI), the Farsi version of theToronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (FTAS-20), Fear of Intimacy Scale (FIS), and the Golombok Rust Inventory ofMarital State Questionnaire (GRIMS). Secure attachment style showed a significant positive association withmarital satisfaction, while insecure attachment styles as well as fear of intimacy and alexithymia showedsignificant negative associations with marital satisfaction. The relationship between fear of intimacy and maritalsatisfaction was moderated by secure and avoidant attachment styles. The results revealed that only avoidantattachment style could moderate the relationship between alexithymia and marital satisfaction. Results of thepresent study suggest that the relationship of alexithymia and fear of intimacy with marital satisfaction is not asimple linear one. This is moderated in part by attachment styles. Hence, secure and insecure attachmentcharacteristics may have significant influence in marital relationship in opposite directions.

The Influence of Family-of-Origin Functioning on Fear-of-Intimacy: The Mediating Effect of Adult Attachment

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effect of the adult attachment in the relationship between the family of origin functioning and fear of intimacy. Data were collected through a questionnaire from 557 university students in the Jeollabuk-do of South Korea. The collected data were analyzed by basic descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlations and multiple regression analysis. Baron and Kenny’s method was used and examined, and the Sobel test was performed to determine the mediating model’s significance. It was adapted to SPSS ver. 18.0 for Windows. The major findings were as follows: first, the functioning of family-of-origin was negatively related to the fear of intimacy. In addition, younger students and students with less past dating experience were more likely to fear of intimacy. Second, fear of intimacy was influenced by the family-of-origin through the intermediate effect of attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety. Attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety had partial mediating effects on the relationship between family-of-origin functioning and the fear of intimacy. That is, family-of-origin functioning was shown to have not only a direct effect, but also an indirect effect through attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety, on the fear of intimacy. The results of this study suggest that the importance of family-of-origin functioning in order to improve Korean college students’ intimacy abilities. Keywords: family-of-origin functioning, fear of intimacy, adult attachment

Medication adherence and its associated factors among Chinese community-dwelling older adults with hypertension

ObjectiveTo investigate the factors that influence medication adherence in Chinese community-dwelling older adults with hypertension. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted with a convenience sample of 382 older adults with hypertension recruited from six health centers in Macao, China. Chinese versions of the Morisky 4-Item Self-Report Measure of Medication-Taking Behavior, Fear of Intimacy with Helping Professionals scale and Exercise of Self-care Agency scale were administered to participants. ResultsParticipants older than 65 years (β = .118, p = .017), with a low level of education (β = .128, p = .01), who had more than one other common disease (β = .120, p = .015), were on long-term medication (β = .221, p < .001) and who reported higher self-care (β = .188, p = .001), had better medication adherence. ConclusionsHealth care professionals should consider these factors when planning medication regimens for Chinese older adults with hypertension, to enhance medication adherence and improve patient outcomes.

Traumatized relationships: Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, fear of intimacy, and marital adjustment in dual trauma couples.

Traumatized relationships: Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, fear of intimacy, and marital adjustment in dual trauma couples.

Masculinity, alexithymia, and fear of intimacy as predictors of UK men's attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help

Men's reluctance to access health care services has been under researched even though it has been identified as a potentially important predictor of poorer health outcomes amongst men. Male gender role socialization and male development may be important in accounting for men's underutilization of mental health services in the United Kingdom. A cross-sectional online survey was used to administer standardized self-report measures that were subject to regression analysis. Five hundred and eighty-one men from the UK general population completed the survey, and 536 participants formed the final regression analysis. Men who score higher on measures of traditional masculine ideology, normative alexithymia, and fear of intimacy reported more negative attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help. Normative alexithymia fully mediated the effect of fear of intimacy on attitudes towards professional help seeking. In the final regression model, education significantly accounted for a proportion of unique variance in men's help-seeking attitudes. Hypothesized consequences of male emotional and interpersonal development and male gender role socialization were associated with men's attitudes towards seeking psychological help. These are important factors which could help to improve help seeking and mental health outcomes for men. Limitations of this study and implications for future research are discussed. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Men are less likely to seek help for physical and psychological problems and have poorer health outcomes across nearly all major illness and injury. Men's reluctance to access health care services is believed to be a major contributory factor to poorer health outcomes for men. What does the study add? The study is a large-scale survey of UK men's attitudes towards professional psychological help seeking. Results provide evidence that hypothesized consequences of male gender role socialization and dominant masculine norms are associated with men's attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help. Attitudes towards psychological help seeking were associated with masculinity, alexithymia, and intimacy. Alexithymia fully mediated the effect of intimacy on men's attitudes towards psychological help seeking. Promoting help seeking in men could improve men's emotional well-being and interpersonal functioning.

Male Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse by a Male or Female Perpetrator

Male Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse by a Male or Female Perpetrator The aim of the study was to expand the understanding regarding male victims of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) by male or female perpetrators. We compared 58 males who had been sexually abused by males with 39 males who had been abused by females in the domains of personality traits, trauma-related features, traumarelated psychopathologies, and fear of intimacy. The findings of the study revealed that male perpetrators were more aggressive and intensive in their abuse than female perpetrators, presumably generating greater psychopathology in their victims, including higher levels of neuroticism, PTSD and dissociative symptoms, fear of exposure, fear of attack, and fear of one’s own destructiveness.

Recollected Parental Care and Fear of Intimacy in Emerging Adults

Two samples of university students (combined N= 299; mean age = 24.97; 86% female) completed the care subscale of the parental bonding instrument and the Fear of Intimacy scale. Analyses indicated that recollected parental care and fear of intimacy were negatively correlated. Concurrently, it was found that (1) participants who reported having a warm, caring relationship with at least one parent were significantly less likely to suffer from a fear of intimacy and (2) participants who scored low on the measure of fear of intimacy were more likely to have mothers who exhibited high levels of warmth and care. Results supported the proposition that the nature of the parent–child relationship has long-reaching effects on how individuals approach romantic relationships.

Fear of Intimacy and Attachment Styles in Women Who Apply for Divorce

Fear of Intimacy and Attachment Styles in Women Who Apply for Divorce