Individual Differences In Adult Attachment Research Articles

Bringing Self-Kindness Into the Workplace: Exploring the Mediating Role of Self-Compassion in the Associations Between Attachment and Organizational Outcomes.

Research has shown that individual differences in adult attachment predict several organizational outcomes. However, little is known about the mechanism that underlies these associations. The current study examines whether self-compassion can serve as a potential mediator explaining the associations between individual differences in attachment and organizational outcomes. Four outcome measures were evaluated: job performance (HPQ; Kessler et al., 2003), organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) (Goodman and Svyantek, 1999), turnover intentions (Abrams et al., 1998), and emotional exhaustion (Schaufeli et al., 1996). In addition, participants (N = 202, response rate 81%) also completed several questionnaires assessing attachment style (ECR; Brennan et al., 1998) and self-compassion (SCS; Neff, 2003). Using structural equation modeling (SEM) for testing the research hypotheses, the hypothesized model was supported, with self-compassion mediating the relationship between attachment styles and all four work-related outcomes. The research findings suggest that self-compassion can provide a solid mechanism for understanding organizational outcomes and for understanding individual differences related to attachment functioning in the workplace.

Adult attachment and testosterone reactivity: Fathers' avoidance predicts changes in testosterone during the strange situation procedure

We assessed parents' testosterone reactivity to the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP), a moderately stressful parent-infant interaction task that pulls for parental nurturance and caregiving behavior. Parents (146 mothers, 154 fathers) interacted with their 1-year-old infants, and saliva samples were obtained pre- and post-task to assess changes in testosterone. We examined whether testosterone reactivity differed between mothers and fathers, the extent to which parents' characteristic approaches to closeness (i.e., adult attachment orientation) contributed to testosterone changes, and whether any influences of adult attachment orientation were independent of more general personality characteristics (i.e., the Big Five personality dimensions). Results revealed that mothers and fathers showed comparable declines in testosterone during the SSP, and that these declines were attenuated among fathers with a more avoidant attachment orientation (i.e., those less comfortable with closeness). Associations between fathers' avoidance and testosterone reactivity were statistically independent of broader personality traits. Our findings provide some of the first evidence for short-term changes in both mothers' and fathers' testosterone in contexts that pull for nurturance. Moreover, these findings demonstrate that individual differences in adult attachment may play an important role in understanding such changes. We discuss possible explanations for gender differences in associations between adult attachment and parents' testosterone reactivity, and the extent to which testosterone reactivity might be sensitive to changes in context for mothers versus fathers.

Individual differences in adult attachment and reinforcement sensitivity

This study examined the nature of the relationship between adult attachment and sensitivities of the Behavioural Approach System (BAS), Fight-Flight-Freeze System (FFFS), and the Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS) as defined by Gray and McNaughton’s (2000) revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (r-RST). A total of 225 first year psychology students completed the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised scale (ECR-R) as an index of adult attachment; along with Carver and White’s (1994) BAS scale (CW-BAS), Fear Survey Schedule (FSS), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory Personality Questionnaire (RST-PQ) as indices of reinforcement sensitivity. Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that both attachment dimensions are significantly related to BIS sensitivity, which suggests that motivational ambivalence is a central feature of attachment insecurity. This study contributes to the understanding of adult attachment behaviour in relationship to more fundamental motivational systems.

Interpersonal and genetic origins of adult attachment styles: a longitudinal study from infancy to early adulthood.

One of the assumptions of attachment theory is that individual differences in adult attachment styles emerge from individuals' developmental histories. To examine this assumption empirically, the authors report data from an age 18 follow-up (Booth-LaForce & Roisman, 2012) of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, a longitudinal investigation that tracked a cohort of children and their parents from birth to age 15. Analyses indicate that individual differences in adult attachment can be traced to variations in the quality of individuals' caregiving environments, their emerging social competence, and the quality of their best friendship. Analyses also indicate that assessments of temperament and most of the specific genetic polymorphisms thus far examined in the literature on genetic correlates of attachment styles are essentially uncorrelated with adult attachment, with the exception of a polymorphism in the serotonin receptor gene (HTR2A rs6313), which modestly predicted higher attachment anxiety and which revealed a Gene × Environment interaction such that changes in maternal sensitivity across time predicted attachment-related avoidance. The implications of these data for contemporary perspectives and debates concerning adult attachment theory are discussed.

Attachment, skin deep? Relationships between adult attachment and skin barrier recovery

This study examined the relationship between individual differences in adult attachment and skin barrier recovery. Dating couples (N=34) completed a self-report measure of attachment anxiety and avoidance, and during two separate laboratory visits, normal skin barrier function was disrupted using a tape-stripping procedure, followed by a 20min discussion of personal concerns in one visit and relationship problems in the other, counterbalanced randomly across visits. Skin barrier recovery was assessed by measuring transepidermal water loss up to 2h after skin disruption. Multilevel modeling showed that skin barrier recovery did not differ between the personal concern or relationship problem discussions. Among women, greater attachment anxiety predicted faster skin barrier recovery across the two visits, while greater attachment avoidance predicted slower skin barrier recovery. Among men, greater attachment anxiety predicted slower skin barrier recovery during the personal concern discussion only. The observed effects remained significant after controlling for transepidermal water loss in undisturbed skin, suggesting that the relationship between attachment security and skin barrier recovery was not due to other skin-related factors like sweating. Cortisol changes, self-reported emotions, stress appraisals, and supportiveness ratings were tested as potential mediators, and none explained the relationships between attachment and skin barrier recovery. These findings are the first to demonstrate associations between individual differences in attachment style and restorative biological processes in the skin, even in a sample of young dating couples in satisfied relationships.

A Twin Study of Attachment Style in Young Adults

The relative contribution of genetic and environmental influences to individual differences in attachment security is still incompletely understood. We assessed attachment style with the Experiences in Close Relationships questionnaire in a volunteer sample of 677 twins (43% male) ages 23-24 years drawn from the population-based Italian Twin Register, who belonged to 244 complete pairs (46% monozygotic) and 189 unmatched pairs. Genetic structural equation modeling was performed with the Mx program. Genetic effects accounted for 45% and 36% of individual differences in attachment-related anxiety and avoidance, respectively. Furthermore, the covariation between anxiety and avoidance was found to be mainly due to genetic factors, with heritability of the latent attachment security phenotype estimated at 62%. Unshared environmental factors explained the remaining proportion of variance. Although our findings are best regarded as preliminary given some study limitations, they suggest that both nature and nurture contribute to individual differences in adult attachment.

Individual differences in adult attachment are systematically related to dream narratives

Self-reported individual differences in attachment insecurities (anxiety and avoidance) are sometimes assumed to tap only conscious mental processes, although many studies have found correlations between such measures and responses to the Thematic Apperception Test, the Rorschach Inkblot Test, and diverse laboratory measures of unconscious mental processes. Dreams offer another route into the unconscious, as Freud famously claimed: a route found useful in psychotherapy. In this study, approximately 1000 dreams reported by 68 young adults who kept dream diaries for a month were analyzed using the Core Conflictual Relationships Theme method, and the themes were examined in relation to (a) scores on the Experiences in Close Relationships measure of attachment anxiety and avoidance and (b) stress experienced the day before each dream. In line with attachment theory and previous research, attachment-related avoidance predicted avoidant wishes and negative representations of other people in dreams. Attachment anxiety predicted wishes for interpersonal closeness, especially in dreams following stressful days, and negative representations of self and both positive and negative representations of others, with negative representations being more common in dreams following stressful days.

Adult Attachment Patterns and Individual Psychotherapy: A Review

Attachment theory provides an empirically grounded framework for understanding important aspects of interpersonal functioning in children as well as adults. Recently attachment theory has found increasing use within the field of individual psychotherapy with adults. This article outlines the theory and measurement of individual differences in adult attachment, and the relevance of such adult attachment patterns to psychotherapy. It then offers a review and discussion of empirical findings regarding the effects of client and therapist attachment patterns on process and outcome in individual psychotherapy with adults. Empirical studies have linked adult attachment patterns to differences in client and therapist in-treatment behaviour, to differences in the quality and development of the therapeutic alliance, and to differences in therapeutic outcome. Although empirical studies on the subject are still few in number, evidence is emerging for the importance of adult attachment patterns in the therapeutic relationship. (Reprinted with permission from Clinical Psychology Review 26 (2006) 968–984)

Individual differences in adult attachment: Disentangling two assessment traditions

The goal of this paper was to disentangle the contributions of type of measurement and relational domain to the lack of concordance between adult attachment measures. Eighty-six college students completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and self-reported measures of attachment security adapted to their relationships with four different relational partners. Results showed that whereas the AAI main dimensions were unrelated to self-reports relative to any partner, reports of attachment security with different partners were interrelated. Further, very few of the AAI State of Mind scales related to self-reported attachment security, but the AAI Experience scales did relate to self-reports in a theoretically consistent manner. Finally, the AAI scales of Idealization and Lack of Recall correlated positively with self-reported attachment when controlling for experiences reported on the AAI. The results suggest that a fundamental distinction between adult attachment measures could be the degree of automaticity of the constructs tapped, and that attachment self-reports may be biased by defensive information-processing strategies among dismissing individuals.

Attentive processing of threat and adult attachment: A dot-probe study

We examined selective attention to threat stimuli as a function of individual differences in adult attachment. Participants completed a dot-probe task in which a general threat word, attachment-related threat word, general positive or attachment-related positive word was presented together with a neutral word. Results showed that attachment anxiety and avoidance were associated with an attentional bias away from attachment threat words. This attentional avoidance effect was best predicted by the interaction between attachment anxiety and avoidance and not by their unique main effects. The findings are discussed in terms of attachment theory and its relation to attentional biases observed in psychopathology.

Attachment and Psychological Adaptation in High Exposure Survivors of the September 11th Attack on the World Trade Center

This study examined the relationship between individual differences in adult attachment and psychological adaptation in a sample of high-exposure survivors of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression were assessed via self-report 7 and 18 months after the attacks. In addition, friends and relatives were asked to provide evaluations of participants' adjustment before and after the attacks. Findings indicate that securely attached individuals exhibited fewer symptoms of PTSD and depression than insecurely attached individuals and were viewed by friends and relatives as showing an increase in adjustment following the attacks. Highly dismissing adults were viewed by their friends and family as showing neither increments nor decrements in adjustment, despite the fact that highly dismissing people self-reported relatively high levels of PTSD and depression.

Attachment, evolution, and the psychology of religion

Introduction. An Ambitious Agenda. Scientific. Comprehensive. Explanatory. Psychology of ... Religion. A New Direction. Attachment Theory. Evolutionary Psychology. The Plan of This Book. Introduction to Attachment Theory. Backdrop. The Attachment System. Other Related Systems. The Phenomenology of Attachment. Individual Differences in Attachment in Childhood. Multiple Attachment Figures. Internal Working Models and the Stability of Attachment Patterns. Attachment in Adulthood. Attachment and Adult Romantic Relationships. Individual Differences in Adult Romantic Attachment. Factorial and Dimensional Models. The Formation and Development of Adult Love Bonds. An Alternative Approach to Adult Attachment. Attachment and Evolutionary Psychology. Summary and Conclusions. God as an Attachment Figure. Religion as Relationship. But Is It Really an Attachment Relationship? Seeking and Maintaining Proximity to God. Proximity in Belief and Myth. Facilitating Psychological Proximity. Prayer. Other Religious Behaviors. God as a Haven of Safety. Crisis and Distress. Illness and Injury. Death and Grieving. God as a Secure Base. Phenomenology. Psychological Outcomes. Responses to Separation and Loss. Summary and Conclusions. More on Religion as an Attachment Process: Extensions and Limitations. Religion and Love. What Kind of Love? Romantic Attachment vs. Attachment to God. God as a Parental Figure. Individual Differences in Images of God. God as a Benevolent Caregiver. God as Controlling and Demanding. Children's Beliefs about God. Beyond God: Extensions and Limitations. To Generalize, or Not to Generalize? The Problem with Parsimony. Other Forms of Attachment (or Not) in Religion. Relationships with Other Supernatural Beings. Relationships with Religious Leaders. Relationships with Fellow Worshipers and Other Peers. Relationships with Groups. Nontheistic Religions. Summary and Conclusions. Individual Differences in Attachment and Religion: The Correspondence Hypothesis. Mental Models and the Correspondence Hypothesis. Correspondence in Childhood and Adolescence. Correspondence in Adulthood. Correspondence Across Cultures. Internal Working Models of Self and Others. Continuity from Childhood to Adulthood. The Socialized Correspondence Hypothesis. The Two-Level Correspondence Hypothesis. 'Socialization' as an Alternative Explanation. The Inadequacy of 'Socialization' as Explanation. The Epidemiology of Beliefs. Individual Differences Revisited. Summary and Conclusions. God as a Substitute Attachment Figure: The Compensation Hypothesis. Individual Differences and Religious Conversion. Individual Differences in Childhood Attachment and Conversion. Sudden Religious Conversion. Other Evidence for a Compensation Model. A Two-Process Model. Individual Differences in Adult Attachment. Contextual Factors in Religious Change. Separation and Loss. Bereavement. Relationship Dissolution. Unavailability of Attachment Figures. Perceived Inadequacy of Human Attachment Figures. Cultural Factors. Summary and Conclusions. Attachment in Context: Introduction to Evolutionary Psychology. Evolutionary Psychology as a Paradigm or Metatheory. Adaptation and Natural Selection. Adaptations. 'Selfish Genes' and Inclusive Fitness. Domain-Specificity and the Mental-Organs Model. Nature 'versus' Nurture. Stone-Age Minds in Modern Environments. Individual Differences in Evolutionary Context. Stable Environmental Differences. Direct Genetic Effects. Frequency-Dependent Adaptive Strategies. Early Environmental Calibration. An Example of Facultative Strategies: Human Mating. Are Evolutionary Explanations Unfalsifiable? Some Illustrative Examples: Politics, Music, and Sports. Summary and Conclusions. Attachment Theory in Modern Evolutionary Perspective. Childhood Attachment in Modern Evolutionary Perspective. Parental Caregiving and Parent-Offspring Conflict. Individual Differences in Childhood Attachment. Attachment and Reproductive Strategies. The Belsky, Steinberg,

Attachment and loss: a test of three competing models on the association between attachment-related avoidance and adaptation to bereavement.

It is widely assumed that emotionally avoidant or defensive individuals will have a difficult time adjusting to the loss of a loved one. However, recent research suggests that defensive individuals tend to adapt quite well to loss. Such findings pose a number of challenges to attachment theory--a theory that has traditionally held that emotional avoidance is indicative of poor psychological adjustment. In this article, the authors argue that contemporary models of individual differences in adult attachment allow the derivation of at least three competing hypotheses regarding the relationship between avoidant attachment and adaptation to loss. These hypotheses are tested using two-wave data on 59 bereaved adults. Results indicate that whereas some avoidant individuals (i.e., those who are fearfully avoidant) have a difficult time adapting to the loss of a loved one, other avoidant adults (i.e., those who are dismissingly avoidant) show a pattern of resilience to loss.

Assessment of Individual Differences in Adult Attachment

(1994). Assessment of Individual Differences in Adult Attachment. Psychological Inquiry: Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 23-67.