Adult Attachment (adult + attachment)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Distribution within Psychology

Terms modified by Adult Attachment

  • adult attachment dimension
  • adult attachment interview
  • adult attachment style

  • Selected Abstracts


    Adult Attachment, Dependence, Self-Criticism, and Depressive Symptoms: A Test of a Mediational Model

    JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 4 2010
    Amy Cantazaro
    ABSTRACT Attachment anxiety is expected to be positively associated with dependence and self-criticism. However, attachment avoidance is expected to be negatively associated with dependence but positively associated with self-criticism. Both dependence and self-criticism are expected to be related to depressive symptoms. Data were analyzed from 424 undergraduate participants at a large Midwestern university, using structural equation modeling. Results indicated that the relation between attachment anxiety and depressive symptoms was fully mediated by dependence and self-criticism, whereas the relation between attachment avoidance and depressive symptoms was partially mediated by dependence and self-criticism. Moreover, through a multiple-group comparison analysis, the results indicated that men with high levels of attachment avoidance are more likely than women to be self-critical. [source]


    Adult attachment, intimacy and psychological distress in a clinical and community sample

    CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY (AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY & PRACTICE), Issue 6 2005
    Suzanne B. Pielage
    Attachment theory predicts that early experiences with caregivers affect the quality of individuals' later (romantic) relationships and, consequently, their mental health. The present study examined the role of intimacy in the current romantic relationship as a possible mediator of the relationship between adult attachment and psychological distress in a clinical and community sample. Results indicated that attachment security was positively, whereas attachment insecurity was negatively, related to intimacy in the current romantic relationship. Furthermore, security of attachment was negatively related to loneliness and depression and positively to satisfaction with life. The reverse held for attachment insecurity. Mediational analyses revealed that intimacy in the current relationship only partially mediated the relationship between attachment and psychological distress. Although near perfect mediation was found for fearful attachment in the clinical sample and for preoccupied attachment in the community sample, the findings with regard to the other attachment styles were less clear-cut. Apart from the hypothesized indirect effect of attachment on psychological distress through intimacy, a direct effect of attachment on psychological distress remains. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.,Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Proximity and distance goals in adult attachment

    EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 8 2008
    Marieke Dewitte
    Abstract We used a variant of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and explicit reports to examine the assumption that attachment anxiety and avoidance are related to proximity and distance goals. Results confirmed that attachment avoidance was associated with a stronger implicit motivation for and positive evaluation of distance goals in attachment relationships. This was found both at the implicit and explicit levels and both in a threat and non-threat context. Attachment anxiety was associated with proximity goals only when measured explicitly, but not when goal activation was measured implicitly. Our findings highlight the importance of considering both implicit and explicit goal representations when studying motivational processes in the context of attachment, and suggest that the IAT can provide a useful tool for investigating implicit motivational constructs. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Self-Pity: Exploring the Links to Personality, Control Beliefs, and Anger

    JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 2 2003
    Joachim Stöber
    Self-pity is a frequent response to stressful events. So far, however, empirical research has paid only scant attention to this subject. The present article aims at exploring personality characteristics associated with individual differences in feeling sorry for oneself. Two studies with N=141 and N=161 university students were conducted, employing multidimensional measures of personality, control beliefs, anger, loneliness, and adult attachment. With respect to personality, results showed strong associations of self-pity with neuroticism, particularly with the depression facet. With respect to control beliefs, individuals high in self-pity showed generalized externality beliefs, seeing themselves as controlled by both chance and powerful others. With respect to anger expression, self-pity was primarily related to anger-in. Strong connections with anger rumination were also found. Furthermore, individuals high in self-pity reported emotional loneliness and ambivalent-worrisome attachments. Finally, in both studies, a strong correlation with gender was found, with women reporting more self-pity reactions to stress than men. Findings are discussed with respect to how they support, extend, and qualify the previous literature on self-pity, and directions for future empirical research are pointed out. There are a hundred ways to overcome an obstacle and one sure way not to,self-pity. Dale Dauten, columnist [source]


    Attachment insecurity, depression, and the transition to parenthood

    PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, Issue 4 2003
    Judith Feeney
    In a longitudinal study of adult attachment and depression during the transition to parenthood, 76 couples completed questionnaires on three occasions: during the second trimester of pregnancy, and six weeks and six months postbirth. On the first and second occasions, the couples were also interviewed about their experiences of pregnancy and parenthood, respectively. Measures were also completed at similar time intervals by a comparison group of 74 childless couples. Attachment security was assessed in terms of the dimensions of discomfort with closeness and relationship anxiety. Relationship anxiety was less stable for transition wives than for other participants. Relationship anxiety also predicted increases in new mothers' depressive symptoms, after controlling for a broad range of other risk factors. However, the association between relationship anxiety and maternal depression was moderated by husbands' caregiving style. Maternal depression was linked to increases in husbands' and wives' attachment insecurity and marital dissatisfaction. Results are discussed in terms of the impact of depression and negative working models of attachment on couple interaction. [source]


    The relationship of adult attachment dimensions to depression and agoraphobia

    PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, Issue 2 2003
    Esben Strodl
    We examined the unique relations between the five dimensions of the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ; Feeney, Noller, & Hanrahan, 1994) and depression and agoraphobic behavior (i.e., avoidance of situations where high anxiety is experienced). In addition, we examined mediation models in an attempt to clarify the link between adult attachment and these two dimensions of psychopathology. In testing these models, we administered the ASQ, General Self-Efficacy Scale, Agoraphobic Catastrophic Cognitions Questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory, and the Mobility Inventory for Agoraphobia (a measure of the degree to which situations are avoided that are typically anxiety provoking for people with agoraphobia) to 122 participants (44 with agoraphobia, 25 with a current major depressive disorder, and 53 with no current psychopathology). The results showed that the insecure attachment dimensions of need for approval, preoccupation with relationships, and relationships as secondary were uniquely associated with depression and that general self-efficacy partly mediated the relationship between need for approval and depression. In contrast, only preoccupation with relationships was uniquely associated with agoraphobic behavior, and catastrophic cognitions about bodily sensations partly mediated this association. [source]


    The adult attachment interview and self-reports of romantic attachment: Associations across domains and methods

    PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, Issue 1 2000
    PHILLIP R. SHAVER
    Two lines of research on adult attachment have emerged; both are based on Bowlby and Ainsworth's attachment theory, which in turn relies on evolutionary theory. Investigators in one tradition use the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) to assess "state of mind with respect to attachment." The AAI has been validated primarily by its ability to predict the attachment classification of an interviewee's child in Ainsworth's "strange situation." Investigators in the second tradition use self-report measures to assess romantic "attachment style." The self-report measures have been validated by their ability to predict features of romantic/marital relationships. Although the two constructs. state of mind and romantic attachment, are importantly different and so would not be expected to relate highly, some of their components, especially ability to depend on attachment figures, should be related if both stem from a person's attachment history. We report associations between components, or aspects, of the two measures. Overlap occurs mainly in the areas of comfort depending on attachment figures and comfort serving as an attachment figure for others. Implications of the findings for attachment theory and research, as well as for evolutionary psychology, are discussed. [source]


    Rejection sensitivity and negative self-beliefs as mediators of associations between the number of borderline personality disorder features and self-reported adult attachment

    PERSONALITY AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 4 2009
    Jennifer M. Boldero
    The present two studies examine associations between self-reported adult anxious and avoidant attachment and the number of borderline personality disorder (BPD) features reported by student samples. In addition, they examine the mediating roles of rejection sensitivity (RS) (Studies 1 and 2) and negative self-beliefs (Study 2) on associations, independent of neuroticism. In both studies, higher anxious and avoidant attachment were associated with reporting more features, and RS partially mediated these associations. In Study 2, the self-belief negativity was an additional mediator. These factors partially mediated the impact of anxious attachment and fully mediated that of avoidant attachment. The results are consistent with an attachment-based model of BPD that highlights the role of internal working models of self and others as antecedents of the sensitivity to rejection seen in many with BPD. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Correlates of the categories of adolescent attachment styles: Perceived rearing, family function, early life events, and personality

    PSYCHIATRY AND CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES, Issue 1 2008
    Nao Tanaka phd
    Aims:, To identify the psychosocial correlates of adolescents. Methods:, Unmarried university students (n = 4226) aged 18,23 years were examined in a questionnaire survey. Results:, Four clusters of people (indifferent, secure, fearful, and preoccupied) identified by cluster analysis were plotted in 2-D using discriminant function analysis with the first function (father's and mother's Care, Cooperativeness, and family Cohesion on the positive end and Harm Avoidance and father's and mother's Overprotection on the negative end) representing the Self-model and the second function (Reward Dependence and experience of Peer Victimization on the positive end and Self-directedness on the negative end) representing the Other model. Conclusions:, These findings partially support Bartholomew's notion that adult attachment is based on the good versus bad representations of the self and the other and that it is influenced by psychosocial environments experienced over the course of development. [source]


    Frequency and difficulty in caregiving among spouses of individuals with cancer: effects of adult attachment and gender

    PSYCHO-ONCOLOGY, Issue 8 2007
    Youngmee Kim
    Abstract How caregivers relate to care recipients can affect how well care is provided and how much burden is experienced in providing it. We conceptualized the relationship of spousal caregivers via adult attachment theory and examined how attachment qualities of caregivers related to level of caregiving involvement and difficulties in caregiving. Gender differences in the associations were also explored. From participants in the ACS Quality of Life Survey for Caregivers, 400 spousal caregivers provided valid data for the study variables. Findings indicated that frequency of various types of care was a joint function of attachment orientation and gender. In contrast, the difficulty that caregivers experienced in providing care related directly to attachment, without moderation by gender. Our findings suggest that ineffective caregivers of cancer patients, who can be identified by their attachment orientation and/or gender, may benefit from educational programs to improve their caregiving skills and to encourage them to utilize resources from other family members or community. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Attachment from Infancy to Early Adulthood in a High-Risk Sample: Continuity, Discontinuity, and Their Correlates

    CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2000
    Nancy S. Weinfield
    This study explores the stability of attachment security and representations from infancy to early adulthood in a sample chosen originally for poverty and high risk for poor developmental outcomes. Participants for this study were 57 young adults who are part of an ongoing prospective study of development and adaptation in a high-risk sample. Attachment was assessed during infancy by using the Ainsworth Strange Situation (Ainsworth & Wittig) and at age 19 by using the Berkeley Adult Attachment Interview (George, Kaplan, & Main). Possible correlates of continuity and discontinuity in attachment were drawn from assessments of the participants and their mothers over the course of the study. Results provided no evidence for significant continuity between infant and adult attachment in this sample, with many participants transitioning to insecurity. The evidence, however, indicated that there might be lawful discontinuity. Analyses of correlates of continuity and discontinuity in attachment classification from infancy to adulthood indicated that the continuous and discontinuous groups were differentiated on the basis of child maltreatment, maternal depression, and family functioning in early adolescence. These results provide evidence that although attachment has been found to be stable over time in other samples, attachment representations are vulnerable to difficult and chaotic life experiences. [source]


    Distress and post-traumatic stress disorders in high risk professionals: adult attachment style and the dimensions of anxiety and avoidance

    CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY (AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY & PRACTICE), Issue 4 2006
    Frédéric Declercq
    This study examines the relationship between adult attachment and psychological distress in a population of 544 people working for a security company and for the Belgian Red Cross. The results indicate that fearful,avoidant and preoccupied attached individuals report more stress than secure attached and insecure attached individuals of the dismissive type. Next, the same attachment styles appear to differentiate between individuals who do and individuals who do not develop a post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) after being confronted with a critical incident. Breaking the attachment styles into the two underlying dimensions of attachment anxiety and avoidance, our results suggest that anxiety is more of an issue than avoidance in psychological distress and the occurrence of PTSD.,Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Adult attachment, intimacy and psychological distress in a clinical and community sample

    CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY (AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY & PRACTICE), Issue 6 2005
    Suzanne B. Pielage
    Attachment theory predicts that early experiences with caregivers affect the quality of individuals' later (romantic) relationships and, consequently, their mental health. The present study examined the role of intimacy in the current romantic relationship as a possible mediator of the relationship between adult attachment and psychological distress in a clinical and community sample. Results indicated that attachment security was positively, whereas attachment insecurity was negatively, related to intimacy in the current romantic relationship. Furthermore, security of attachment was negatively related to loneliness and depression and positively to satisfaction with life. The reverse held for attachment insecurity. Mediational analyses revealed that intimacy in the current relationship only partially mediated the relationship between attachment and psychological distress. Although near perfect mediation was found for fearful attachment in the clinical sample and for preoccupied attachment in the community sample, the findings with regard to the other attachment styles were less clear-cut. Apart from the hypothesized indirect effect of attachment on psychological distress through intimacy, a direct effect of attachment on psychological distress remains. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.,Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]