Higher Levels Of Attachment Anxiety Research Articles

Attachment, feeling, and feeding: Associations between caregivers' attachment, emotional and feeding responsiveness, and Children's food consumption

A substantial body of literature links attachment to childhood obesity. However, research on the mechanisms underlying this association is scarce. The present study aimed to test four serial indirect path models to examine whether caregivers' insecure attachment is related to children's food consumption, through its influence on emotional and feeding responsiveness. A total of 352 caregivers of preschool children reported on their attachment orientation, emotional responses to their children's distress, feeding practices, and their children's food consumption. Results showed that caregivers with higher levels of attachment avoidance and anxiety were more likely to use unsupportive emotional responses to children's distress, which predicted the increased use of unresponsive feeding practices, and consequently children's higher sugary and fatty/salty food consumption. Higher levels of attachment avoidance were also associated with children's lower fruit and vegetable consumption through lower use of supportive emotional responses and responsive feeding practices, while higher levels of attachment anxiety were associated with children's lower fruit and vegetable consumption only by lower use of responsive feeding practices. These findings suggest that the influence of insecure attachment on caregivers' emotion regulation may contribute to the use of specific feeding practices that, in turn, affect children's food intake and may have implications for obesity risk.

Exploring the Role of Attachment and Coping Strategies in Sexual Orientation Disparities in Depressive Symptoms

ABSTRACT We tested whether sexual orientation disparities in depressive symptoms are partially explained by a path through attachment anxiety or avoidance leading to ineffective coping strategies. A convenience sample of 1290 individuals from two reliable data collection platforms (Credamo and Wenjuanxing) in China were included. Structural equation modeling was performed, with sexual orientation treated as the independent variable, ineffective coping strategies, attachment avoidance and anxiety as mediators, and depressive symptoms as the dependent variable. We found that lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals reported higher levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance than heterosexual individuals, regardless of sex, with Cohen’s ds ranging from 0.25 to 0.76. For both sexes, LGB individuals reported more depressive symptoms than heterosexual individuals, with total effects (standardized regression coefficients) ranging from 0.22 to 0.26. More depressive symptoms reported by LGB individuals compared to heterosexual individuals were partially explained by a path involving attachment avoidance or anxiety leading to ineffective coping strategies, with indirect effects ranging from 0.04 to 0.09 (small effect sizes). Overall, our results suggest that psychological factors, such as the cognitive or emotional representations of self and others, as well as ineffective coping strategies, may partially explain sexual orientation disparities in depressive symptoms.

Childhood trauma and suicide risk: Investigating the role of adult attachment

BackgroundSuicide is a leading cause of death globally and a serious public health concern. Childhood trauma has been found to be associated with adult suicide vulnerability. Recent research has turned attention to investigating the role of attachment in the context of the childhood trauma-adult suicide relationship. The current study investigated for the first time whether attachment influences and moderates the childhood trauma-suicidality relationship, using a daily diary design, in the general population. Methods481 participants completed questionnaires assessing experiences of childhood trauma, attachment patterns, and history of suicidality. 243 participants continued to a daily diary phase where measures of daily stress, defeat and entrapment were completed for 7 consecutive days. ResultsHigher levels of childhood trauma were associated with a history of suicide ideation and attempt and also higher levels of daily defeat, entrapment and stress during the 7 day study. Similarly, higher levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance were associated with a history of suicide ideation and attempt together with higher levels of daily defeat, entrapment and stress. However, the effects of childhood trauma on suicide history and on daily suicide vulnerability factors were not moderated by attachment anxiety or avoidance. LimitationsThe measure of childhood trauma was a retrospective self-report tool that may be influenced by memory biases. ConclusionsChildhood trauma and insecure attachment are implicated in adult suicide risk. Interventions aimed at mitigating the negative effects of childhood trauma and insecure attachment should also incorporate components that target modifiable risk factors such as defeat, entrapment and stress.

Parental reflective functioning in mothers and fathers of preschoolers: Associations with adult attachment and parenting behavior.

Parental reflective functioning (PRF) is considered a key parental competence. Since most research on PRF has focused on infancy or the first years of life, there is a gap in our understanding of PRF among parents of older children. Therefore, we investigated PRF in mothers and fathers with preschool-aged children, examining associations between PRF, parent's romantic attachment, and observed parenting behavior. The sample comprised 50 mothers, 40 fathers, and their 5-year-old children. PRF was assessed using the parental reflective functioning questionnaire (PRFQ), parental romantic attachment was assessed using the experiences in close relationships scale-revised (ECR-R), and parenting behavior was assessed during a parent-child free-play interaction with the coding interactive behavior (CIB) coding system. Results showed that mothers scored higher on the interest and curiosity scale than fathers, indicating that mothers show a more active interest and curiosity in their child's mental states. Further, higher levels of attachment anxiety in fathers were associated with higher levels of pre-mentalizing modes. In mothers, higher levels of attachment avoidance were associated with lower levels of interest and curiosity. Finally, and unexpectedly, higher levels of interest and curiosity in mothers were associated with less sensitivity during free play. In summary, the study found meaningful associations between mothers' and fathers' romantic attachment and their PRF indicating a spill-over of their attachment strategies into their relationship with their child. Further, the study results suggest that very high levels of interest and curiosity in mothers reflect hypermentalizing.

Identifying who benefits most from supportive versus expressive techniques in psychotherapy for depression: Moderators of within- versus between-individual effects.

A recent randomized controlled trial (RCT) indicated that individuals with higher levels of attachment anxiety exhibited better treatment outcomes in supportive-expressive therapy (SET) relative to supportive therapy (ST). But to gain insight into within-patient therapeutic changes, a within-individual design is required. The present study contrasts previous findings based on theory-driven between-patient moderators with data-driven moderators of within-patient processes to investigate whether findings converge or diverge across these two approaches. We used data of 118 patients from the pilot and active phases of a recent RCT for patients with major depressive disorder, comparing ST with SET, a time-limited psychodynamic therapy. The predefined primary outcome measure was the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. Supportive versus expressive techniques were rated based on patients' end-of-session perspective. We compared previous findings based on moderators of between-patient effects with a data-driven approach for identifying moderators of within-patient effects of techniques on subsequent outcome. After false discovery rate corrections, of 10 preselected moderators, patients' attachment anxiety and domineering style remained significant. Of these, bootstrap resampling revealed significant differences between ST and SET techniques for the attachment anxiety moderator: Those with higher attachment anxiety benefited more from greater use of ST than SET techniques in a particular session, as evidenced by lower levels of symptoms at the subsequent session. Our within-individual findings diverge from previously published between-individual analyses. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates the importance of complementing between-individuals with within-individual analyses to achieve better understanding of who benefits most from specific treatment techniques. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The influence of attachment style on support and feedback seeking and depression severity among mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ways that people seek support during times of stress influence their mental health outcomes, including depression. Insecure attachment is a risk factor for depression and may also interfere with adaptive support and feedback-seeking behaviour during stress. The purpose of the present study was to test theorized associations between insecure attachment, support and feedback seeking, and changes in depression symptoms over 1 year, in a sample of mothers of school-age children in the context of stress elicited by the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants (N = 70 mothers) completed self-report measures of anxious and avoidant attachment and depression severity at baseline in spring 2020 and then completed measures of past-year engagement in direct and indirect support seeking and excessive reassurance seeking (ERS), preference for negative feedback, and depression severity at a follow-up assessment in summer 2021. Greater attachment anxiety at baseline predicted more frequent direct support seeking, indirect support seeking, and ERS during the 1-year follow-up period. In turn, greater indirect support seeking predicted greater increases in depression from baseline to follow-up. Greater attachment avoidance at baseline predicted less direct support seeking during the 1-year follow-up period. Greater attachment avoidance at baseline also predicted depression severity at follow-up, particularly among mothers with moderate to high levels of attachment anxiety, although none of the examined support and feedback-seeking behaviours mediated this association. These results provide support for the role of activated attachment systems in determining support and feedback-seeking behaviour during stress, as well as the role of support and feedback-seeking behaviour in the maintenance and exacerbation of depression.

No person is an island: Unpacking the work and after-work consequences of interacting with artificial intelligence.

The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution has arrived, as AI systems are increasingly being integrated across organizational functions into the work lives of employees. This coupling of employees and machines fundamentally alters the work-related interactions to which employees are accustomed, as employees find themselves increasingly interacting with, and relying on, AI systems instead of human coworkers. This increased coupling of employees and AI portends a shift toward more of an "asocial system," wherein people may feel socially disconnected at work. Drawing upon the social affiliation model, we develop a model delineating both adaptive and maladaptive consequences of this situation. Specifically, we theorize that the more employees interact with AI in the pursuit of work goals, the more they experience a need for social affiliation (adaptive)-which may contribute to more helping behavior toward coworkers at work-as well as a feeling of loneliness (maladaptive), which then further impair employee well-being after work (i.e., more insomnia and alcohol consumption). In addition, we submit that these effects should be especially pronounced among employees with higher levels of attachment anxiety. Results across four studies (N = 794) with mixed methodologies (i.e., survey study, field experiment, and simulation study; Studies 1-4) with employees from four different regions (i.e., Taiwan, Indonesia, United States, and Malaysia) generally support our hypotheses. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

“Picking up the pieces”: Patients’ retrospective reflections of rupture resolution episodes during treatment

ABSTRACT Objective: Although theorists and researchers have stressed the importance of rupture resolution episodes for successful treatment process and outcome, little is known about patients’ retrospective reflections about rupture resolution. Aim: The overarching goal of the present study was to use a mixed-method approach to examine patients’ retrospective reflections on the frequency, types, and consequences of rupture resolution episodes and the association between rupture resolution episodes and patients’ attachment orientation and treatment outcome. Method: Thirty-eight patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) were interviewed, on average three years after termination, about their experiences of ruptures in short-term dynamic psychotherapy. Results: Thirty patients reported having experienced at least one rupture, with patients who showed less improvement in depressive symptoms more likely to report having had a rupture. Ruptures were judged as having been successfully resolved for 13 of these patients; suggesting that patients with a high level of attachment anxiety were less likely to be judged as having had a successful resolution. Patients whose ruptures were successfully resolved with the therapist's help reported better treatment process and outcome than patients whose ruptures were not successfully resolved. Conclusion: Results highlight the importance of hearing patients’ perspectives on ruptures, rupture resolution, and treatment outcome.

Attachment Anxiety and Dissociation Mediate Associations Between Polytrauma and Somatization in Kenyan Adolescents

ABSTRACT The experience of several potentially traumatic events (PTE) is a risk factor for higher somatization symptoms severity among adolescents. Attachment orientations and dissociation may influence the link between exposure to PTE and somatization symptoms severity. We analyzed the associations between direct exposure to PTE and somatization symptoms in Kenyan adolescents and explored the mediating role of attachment orientations and dissociation symptoms in the associations between direct exposure to PTE with somatization symptoms severity. A sample of 475 Kenyan adolescents completed validated self-report questionnaires. Serial multiple mediation models were tested by conducting a structural equation modeling employing Preacher and Hayes’ procedures (2008). Attachment anxiety and dissociation symptoms mediate the association between direct exposure to traumatic events and somatization symptoms. Higher exposure to traumatic events was significantly associated with higher attachment anxiety levels, which was associated with higher levels of dissociation symptoms, which was then associated with higher somatization symptoms severity. High levels of attachment anxiety and dissociation might aggravate somatization symptoms differently according to sex, which might be seen as a psychological distress mechanism subsequent to exposure to multiple PTE in African adolescents.

Foster parents’ history of adverse childhood experiences, adult attachment, and parenting stress

BackgroundConnections between parents’ trauma histories, adult attachment, and parenting stress are well established; those who have experienced trauma are more likely to have higher levels of insecure attachment (Jacobvitz & Reisz, 2019) and are more vulnerable to parenting stress (Steele et al., 2016) These processes in foster parents are understudied, even though they care for vulnerable children. This study examined relations between foster parents adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), adult attachment, and parenting stress. This is important to address because foster parents care for vulnerable children who can present unique stressors to caregivers. ObjectiveExamine links between ACEs, adult attachment, and parenting stress in foster parents. Participants & settingParticipants were 55 foster parents from central Texas, US, recruited from a larger RCT study. MethodsParticipants completed the ACEs questionnaire, Experiences in Close Relationships questionnaire, and Parenting Stress Inventory. ResultsFoster parents who reported higher total ACEs were more likely to report higher levels of attachment avoidance and higher levels of overall parenting stress. Foster parents who reported experiencing childhood emotional abuse reported higher levels of attachment anxiety. Those who reported experiencing childhood sexual abuse reported higher levels of parental distress. Lastly, those who reported higher levels of attachment anxiety reported higher levels of parental distress and defensive responding. ConclusionsACEs are an important factor for foster parents, particularly for parenting stress. It is crucial that appropriate support is provided to help foster parents manage parenting stress and provide optimal care for their foster children.

Romantic attachment and cyber dating violence in adolescence: A dyadic approach.

Little research has documented cyber dating violence (DV)-a type of teen DV with unique characteristics that has been associated with negative consequences. Attachment is central to understanding negative behaviors in the context of relationships and has been associated with other forms of DV in teens. This study used an actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) to examine how cyber-DV victimization and perpetration (direct aggression and control) relate to attachment anxiety and avoidance. An online questionnaire was completed by 126 adolescent couples (n = 252; mean age = 17.7) from Quebec, Canada. In almost all couples (96%), at least one partner reported an incident of cyber-control in the previous year, while cyber-aggression was reported in 34% of couples. APIM results revealed that girls' and boys' victimization and perpetration of direct cyber-aggression are associated similarly with both their own high levels of attachment anxiety and their partner's. Concerning cyber-control, results show that boys' and girls' victimization is associated more with their partner's higher level of anxious attachment than their own. Girls' perpetration of cyber-control is associated with both their own high levels of attachment anxiety and their partner's, while for boys' perpetration, their own high levels of anxious attachment were found to play a significantly greater role than their girlfriend's. No significant associations were found for the dimension of avoidant attachment for both cyber-aggression and cyber-control whether perpetration or victimization. These findings, which identify potential risk factors for victimization and perpetration of cyber-DV, have implications for research, intervention, and prevention.

Romantic attachment, infertility-related stress, and positive body image of women dealing with infertility.

Infertility is a condition that can affect the physical, emotional, social, and relational well-being of women. Women's bodies seem to assume a crucial relevance as part of the experience of infertility and its treatments. An extended body of literature supports the role of romantic attachment orientations in facing infertility-related stress. However, the association between romantic attachment orientations, infertility-related stress, and women's body image has not been explored. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the role of romantic attachment and infertility-related stress concerning positive body image in 113 women dealing with infertility. Data were analyzed with correlation and mediation path analyses. Results showed that high levels of attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and infertility-related stress were negatively associated with positive body image. Path analyses indicated that positive body image may be directly associated with romantic attachment anxiety. The negative association of attachment avoidance with body image appeared to be mediated by infertility-related stress. Findings suggest that romantic attachment insecurities and infertility-related stress are significantly associated with a worsened body image in infertile women. Implications for future research are discussed.

Attachment, empathy, emotion regulation, and subjective well-being in young women

This study explored the association between attachment and subjective well-being by examining the possible mediating roles of empathy and emotion regulation (i.e., reappraisal and suppression) with a sample of young women (ages 18–25) attending U.S. universities (N = 479). Higher attachment anxiety and avoidance were associated with lower subjective well-being. Attachment anxiety and avoidance were associated with affective, but not cognitive, empathy. Empathy did not mediate the relation between attachment and subjective well-being. Higher attachment anxiety and avoidance were associated with lower reappraisal, partially mediating the effect on subjective well-being. Attachment anxiety and avoidance were negatively associated with suppression, but suppression failed to function as a mediator between attachment and subjective well-being. Taken together, the results highlight the role of reappraisal in subjective well-being for young women with higher levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance.

The relationship between adult attachment and mental health: A meta-analysis.

Attachment theory provides a framework for understanding the correlations among interpersonal relationships, stress, and health. Moreover, adult attachment is an important predictor of mental health. However, there is a lack of systematic reviews that simultaneously examine the associations between adult attachment and both positive and negative indicators of mental health. Consequently, we meta-analyzed 224 studies examining the associations between adult attachment and mental health, using robust variance estimation with random effects. The results (k = 245 samples, N = 79,722) showed that higher levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance were positively correlated with negative affect (e.g., depression, anxiety, loneliness) and they were negatively correlated with positive affect (e.g., life satisfaction, self-esteem). More specifically, there were moderate associations between attachment avoidance and negative mental health (r = .28) and positive mental health (r = -.24). Likewise, there were moderate associations between attachment anxiety and negative mental health (r = .42) and positive mental health (r = -.29). Furthermore, the association between the attachment dimensions and mental health outcomes was also moderated by several variables (e.g., gender, age). Finally, these associations remained statistically significant even when the attachment dimensions were mutually controlled using meta-analytic structural equation modeling. Overall, attachment anxiety had larger associations with mental health than did attachment avoidance. Thus, the current results support robust links between adult attachment and mental health. This may have implications for future research and mental health treatments. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

A questionnaire measure of adult attachment anxiety correlates with frontal hemispheric asymmetry in sleep spindle activity

Subjects with high levels of attachment anxiety and neuroticism were proposed to be characterized by higher relative right rather than left frontal activity. Since sleep spindles are argued to reflect enhanced offline neuroplasticity, higher spindle activity measured over the right frontal areas relative to the corresponding left frontal ones could index higher attachment anxiety and neuroticism. Our aim was to explore the relationship between the lateralization patterns of frontally dominant slow sleep spindles and questionnaire measures of adult attachment anxiety and neuroticism. Thirty-four healthy subjects (male = 19; Mage = 31.64; SDage = 9.5) were enrolled in our preliminary study. Second night EEG/polysomnography records and questionnaire measures of personality (Zuckerman–Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire) and adult attachment (Relationship Scales Questionnaire) were collected. Frontal slow sleep spindles were measured by the Individual Adjustment Method (IAM), whereas hemispheric asymmetry indexes of spindle occurrence rate, duration, and amplitude were derived as normalized left–right differences (electrode pairs: Fp1–Fp2, F3–F4, and F7–F8). Relative right lateralization of frontolateral and frontopolar slow sleep spindle density and mid-frontal slow spindle duration were associated with attachment anxiety, but spindle lateralization was less closely related to neuroticism. The relationships between frontal slow spindle laterality and attachment anxiety remained statistically significant even after controlling for the effect of neuroticism, whereas attachment avoidance–independence was not correlated with frontal slow spindle lateralization. Right frontal lateralization of slow sleep spindle activity might indicate attachment status in terms of the negative view of the self.

Attachment and Dyadic Forgiveness in Individuals in Same-Sex Couple Relationships.

(1) Background: There is abundant evidence linking attachment insecurity to lower levels of interpersonal forgiveness. However, this association has been almost exclusively explored in people in a different-sex couple relationship, and there is little evidence referring to gay, lesbian, and bisexual (LGB) people in a same-sex relationship. The present study examines the association between romantic attachment and dyadic forgiveness in individuals involved in a same-sex couple relationship. (2) Methods: A total of 248 participants (52.8% female) aged 18–67 years (mean age: 31.02 ± 9.39) completed the Experiences in Close Relationships questionnaire and the Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivation Inventory. (3) Results: Structural equation modeling showed that attachment avoidance was more strongly associated with dyadic forgiveness than attachment anxiety. Higher levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance were both linked to higher levels of avoidance motivation in response to partner transgressions, and higher attachment avoidance was linked to lower benevolence motivation. Multigroup analyses indicated a gender-specific association between attachment avoidance and revenge motivations, which was positive and significant among men only. (4) Conclusions: In the present study, we have identified that attachment avoidance plays a more prominent role in the tendency to forgive in same-sex couples. Implications at both theoretical and clinical practice levels are discussed.

Eating disorder psychopathology: The role of attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and personality functioning

ObjectiveAlthough the relationship between insecure attachment patterns and eating disorder (ED) psychopathology has repeatedly been demonstrated, the underlying mechanisms of this association are not fully understood. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine personality functioning, defined as an impairment in self and interpersonal functioning, as a mediator between attachment insecurity and ED psychopathology. MethodsIn a representative population-based sample (N = 2508; age range 14–92 years) ED symptomatology, personality functioning, and attachment insecurity (anxiety and avoidance) were assessed. Besides descriptive uni−/bivariate analysis, path analysis was used to test a mediation model while controlling for the effects of age, gender, mental distress, and BMI. ResultsED symptomatology was associated with lower levels of personality functioning (r = 0.22) and higher levels of attachment anxiety (r = 0.14) but did not correlate with attachment avoidance (r = 0.02). Path analysis revealed that personality functioning fully mediated the effect of attachment anxiety on ED symptomatology: The indirect effect via personality functioning (β = 0.04, p < .001) accounted for 77% of the total effect. Fit indices were excellent. Sensitivity analyses revealed that the main results were mainly applicable to women and the middle age group. ConclusionThe present findings contribute to the growing body of research using dimensional conceptualizations of personality functioning, suggesting that it provides an informative, overarching framework for understanding and treating ED psychopathology. Findings indicate that underlying individual differences, e.g., with respect to insecure attachment configurations, have relevant implications for symptom manifestations. Potential clinical implications and avenues for future research are discussed.

Attachment Security Priming Delayed Negative Information-Related Attentional Disengagement Among Anxiously Attached Individuals: Evidence From Behavioral and Functional MRI Experiments.

Although attachment security has been found to attenuate people’s experience of unpleasant information, how it modulates the attentional process toward such information remains unknown. The present study examined this issue by employing the dot-probe task in functional MRI. After completing the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised questionnaire (ECR-R), 39 participants were asked to complete the dot-probe task in two conditions: the attachment security priming condition and neutral priming condition. The behavioral results revealed that individuals with high level of attachment anxiety exhibited larger attention disengagement from negative traits in the security priming condition than in the control condition. Correspondingly, the brain regions involved in attention regulation and shifting, such as the posterior cingulate and bilateral parietal area, were less activated among high anxiously attached individuals in the security priming condition. These results suggest a role of attachment security priming in regulating the emotional response in anxiously attached individuals during the attentional stage.

The Relationship between Boredom Proneness, Attachment Styles and Compulsive Sexual Behavior

Affect regulation is associated with compulsive sexual behavior (CSB) despite ongoing debate about its inclusion in diagnostic criteria. Previous studies on two specific affect regulation constructs – boredom proneness and attachment styles – suggest that affect regulation is associated with CSB. We tested a moderation model of the effects of attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance on the relationship between boredom proneness and CSB. Results indicate that the relationship between boredom proneness and CSB is stronger at higher levels of attachment anxiety, with no interaction between boredom proneness and attachment avoidance. Overall findings support the importance of affect regulation in conceptualizing and treating CSB.

We only know that we don’t know: attachment patterns and psychological coping during the COVID-19 pandemic – the mediation role of intolerance of uncertainty

ABSTRACT The global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic created sudden changes in many areas of daily life and increased uncertainty about the future. Two studies examined the association between attachment patterns and mental well-being during the pandemic, the mediating role of intolerance of uncertainty (IOU), and factors related to social relationships and self-perceptions. The results of the first study, conducted at the outbreak of the pandemic, indicated that individuals with high levels of attachment anxiety experienced more negative emotions and fewer positive emotions at that time, and that IOU and perceived social support mediated these associations. The results of the second study, conducted several months into the pandemic, indicated an association between attachment anxiety and avoidance, and perceived stress during the time of the pandemic. Results of Study 2 also indicated that IOU mediated the association between attachment anxiety and stress, and that sense of coherence (SOC) mediated the association between attachment anxiety and avoidance, and stress. These findings underscore the adverse psychological effects of uncertain situations, especially for individuals with a fragile foundation of interpersonal support, thus emphasizing the need for action to reduce uncertainty, especially in times of emergency.