The boundaries between attachment and personality: Associations across three levels of the attachment network

This research examined the associations between measures of sociotropic and autonomous personality, romantic attachment anxiety and avoidance, and corresponding attachment ratings across a range of different specific relationships with people whom participants regularly interacted (including romantic partners, friends, family members, and colleagues). Analyses using hierarchical linear modeling showed that sociotropy and autonomy were directly associated with respective ratings of relationship-specific anxiety and avoidance within non-romantic relationships. In contrast, domain-specific romantic attachment predicted relationship-specific attachment with romantic (but not non-romantic) partners, and, as hypothesized, mediated the associations between sociotropy and autonomy and relationship-specific attachment within this domain. Implications for the operationalization of sociotropy and autonomy as broad-bandwidth (personality-level) measures that assess more global summaries of regularities in the same dual dimensions identified in the attachment literature (i.e., attachment anxiety and avoidance) are discussed.     

The relationship between attachment, personality and antisocial tendencies in a prison sample: a pilot study

This study examined the role of adult attachment and personality in relation to antisocial tendencies (i.e. convictions for violence and interpersonal problems in romantic relationships) in Norwegian prison inmates (N=92). Attachment styles and personality were measured using self-report questionnaires (RSQ; Griffin & Bartholomew, 1994; and NEO-FFI, Costa & McCrae, 1992a). The prison inmates scored higher on avoidant than on anxious attachment style. While age and agreeableness (negatively associated) emerged as significant predictors of violence, anxious attachment explained most of the variances in aggression in intimate relationships. The study suggests that different types of antisocial tendencies could have different attachment and general personality correlates.     

Not all attachment relationships develop alike: Normative cross-sectional age trajectories in attachment to romantic partners,best friends,and parents

Previous research has found that age is negatively correlated with general-romantic attachment anxiety and positively correlated with general-romantic attachment avoidance. The present study examined cross-sectional age trajectories in global attachment, as well as relationship-specific attachment with romantic partners, best friends, mothers, and fathers. Across all specific relationships, older individuals reported higher attachment avoidance. In contrast, attachment anxiety with romantic partners and friends was negatively associated with age, whereas attachment anxiety with parents normatively increased as a function of age. These findings underscore the importance of examining the normative age trajectories of attachment across both global and specific levels of abstraction.     

Humor styles and personality: A meta‐analysis of the relation between humor styles and the Big Five personality traits

This research summarizes the knowledge generated in social psychology and positive psychology about the relationship between humor styles, personality and wellbeing. Specifically, a meta‐analysis was performed with the results of 15 studies on humor styles measured by the Humor Styles Questionnaire (Martin, Puhlik‐Doris, Larsen, Gray & Weir, 2003) in correlation with the personality traits measured by the Big Five Personality model (measured with different scales). Following the steps presented by Rosenthal (1991) for meta‐analysis in the case of correlational research, we calculated the total mean r as an indicator of effect size. Results show that affiliative humor has a strong and homogeneous relation to neuroticism and extraversion. The homogeneity and heterogeneity found between variables and possible explanations are discussed in the conclusion.     

Mindfulness and spirituality as predictors of personal maturity beyond the influence of personality traits

Historically, the concept of human maturity has been discussed in the social science field. The process of attaining maturity has also been explored since last century. This study investigates the possible influences of mindfulness practice and spirituality in predicting maturity. The model of causes of maturity in this study assesses the contributions of personality, mindfulness, and spirituality in the prediction of maturity in a random sample of 537 Chinese adults. Results indicated that personality, mindfulness, and spirituality all correlated with maturity in many aspects. Multiple regression analyses found that mindfulness and spirituality each added an additional significant amount of variance in maturity after controlling for the influence of age and personality. As expected, when mindfulness and spirituality were practiced together, the amount of combined incremental influence on maturity was significantly greater than the amounts of incremental influence mindfulness and spirituality each alone had on maturity.     

Personality, birth order and attachment styles as related to various types of jealousy

The relationships between jealousy, personality, attachment styles and birth order were examined in a sample of 100 Dutch men and 100 Dutch women. Three types of jealousy were examined: reactive jealousy (a negative response to the emotional or sexual involvement of the partner with someone else), preventive jealousy (efforts to prevent intimate contact of the partner with a third person), and anxious jealousy (obsessive anxiety, upset, and worrying about the possibility of infidelity of the partner). The three types of jealousy were not at all related to egoism and dominance, but significantly correlated with neuroticism, social anxiety, rigidity and hostility. Only among women was a low self-esteem correlated with jealousy. On all three jealousy measures, those with an anxious-ambivalent attachment style were more jealous than those with an avoidant style, with those with a secure attachment style being the least jealous. Attachment style was strongly related to most personality dimensions, but the effects of attachment style upon jealousy stayed virtually the same when controlling for personality factors. The most important finding in the present study was that laterborns were more jealous according to all three measures than firstborns, a finding that was not due to personality differences between first- and laterborns, nor to differences in attachment style, gender or occupational level of the father. Because some evidence was found that only borns were slightly less jealous than firstborns, it is suggested that the experience of exclusive love and attention in one's childhood, leads to a lower level of jealousy among firstborns.     

The association between working models of attachment and personality: Toward an integrative framework operationalizing global relational models

A theoretical framework is presented which outlines the association between relational models of romantic relationships (romantic attachment anxiety and avoidance) and the conceptually similar dual dimensions of autonomy and sociotropy identified in the literature on personality diatheses of depression. Two studies, along with a meta-analysis of previous research, lend support to the notion that autonomy and avoidance share a common element reflecting variation in the degree to which people seek out or avoid closeness with others, whereas sociotropy and anxiety share a common element reflecting variation in the degree to which people worry about or are content in their social relations. The measures differ in relational specificity, however, as attachment anxiety and avoidance assess models of close and romantic relationships, whereas sociotropy and autonomy reflect more abstracted representations that encompass broader categories of social relation. The proposed framework offers a variety of avenues for research operationalizing and elaborating upon the function of global relational models in the attachment system.     

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.     

The relationship between emotional intelligence and the dark triad personality traits: A meta-analytic review

This is a meta-analysis of emotional intelligence (EI) and Dark Triad traits. EI is significantly and negatively related to Machiavellianism (overall EI:

= −0.29; ability EI:

= −0.31; trait EI:

= −0.27) and to psychopathy (overall EI:

= −0.17; ability EI:

= −0.21; trait EI:

= −0.16). EI is not related to narcissism (overall EI:

= 0.02; ability EI:

= −0.10; trait EI:

= 0.05). The types of EI did not moderate the relationships between EI and Dark Triad traits. EI measures and measures of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy exhibited significant moderator effects. Using EI scales may be a practical way to screen out candidates high in Machiavellianism and psychopathy.     

The relevance of security: A latent domain of attachment relationships

In the present study an adult attachment dimension, latent to the constructs of security, anxiety, and avoidance, was hypothesized, wherein security was expected to occupy the most relevant position. Furthermore, the reciprocal functioning of attachment constructs and their interactions with self‐esteem were explored. Four hundreds and thirty‐four Italian university students responded to two adult attachment questionnaires (Attachment Style Questionnaire and Adult Attachment Questionnaire) and to the Rosenberg Self‐esteem scale. A Many‐Facet Rasch Measurement modeling approach was adopted. The main results can be summarized as follows: (a) security, anxiety, and avoidance are nested under one latent attachment dimension; (b) security occupies the most prominent position on the dimension; (c) security is positively associated with a moderate level of attachment anxiety and negatively related to avoidance; and (d) a positive interaction between self‐esteem and security, and a negative relation between self‐esteem and anxiety, were detected. Theoretical, clinical, and empirical implications of the results are further discussed.     

Relation between resilience and personality traits: The role of hopelessness and age

Resilience refers to the process by which individuals use the ability to cope with challenges to successfully adapt to adverse situations, inclining towards the future and hope. The main aim of this study was to analyze the relation between resilience, personality traits, and hopelessness. Furthermore, we conducted comparisons between two age groups: young and older adults. The sample comprised 439 Spanish participants (66.7% women; M = 43.73, SD = 26.41; age range = 18–98 years). The Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale, NEO-Five Factor Inventory, and Beck Hopelessness Scale were used to measure the main study variables. The results revealed a negative relation between resilience and neuroticism, and a positive association with the other personality traits. Additionally, levels of resilience were found to be negatively related to hopelessness. The group of older adults showed significantly lower resilience levels than the young adults, although age was not a significant predictor of resilience. Neuroticism, extraversion, openness, and hopelessness were the only predictors of resilience for the current study. This work contributes to the study of resilience and related factors, by attempting to understand the role of resilience and resistance to risk and how individuals tackle challenges over time, with important implications for mental health.     

Electrophysiological correlates of dispositional mindfulness: A quantitative and complexity EEG study

While growing evidence supports that dispositional mindfulness relates to psychological health and cognitive enhancement, to date there have been only a few attempts to characterize its neural underpinnings. In the present study, we aimed at exploring the electrophysiological (EEG) signature of dispositional mindfulness using quantitative and complexity measures of EEG during resting state and while performing a learning task. Hundred twenty participants were assessed with the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire and underwent 5 min eyes-closed resting state and 5 min at task EEG recording. We hypothesized that high mindfulness individuals would show patterns of brain activity related to (a) lower involvement of the default mode network (DMN) at rest (reduced frontal gamma power) and (b) a state of ‘task readiness’ reflected in a more similar pattern from rest to task (reduced overall q-EEG power at rest but not at task), as compared to their low mindfulness counterparts. Dispositional mindfulness was significantly linked to reduced frontal gamma power at rest and lower overall power during rest but not at task. In addition, we found a trend towards higher entropy during task performance in mindful individuals, which has recently been reported during mindfulness meditation. Altogether, our results add to those from expert meditators to show that high (dispositional) mindfulness seems to have a specific electrophysiological pattern characteristic of less involvement of the DMN and mind-wandering processes.     

The dynamics,processes, mechanisms,and functioning of personality: An overview of the field

Personality psychology has long focused on structural trait models, but it can also offer a rich understanding of the dynamics, processes, mechanisms, and functioning of individual differences or entire persons. The field of personality dynamics, which works towards such an understanding, has experienced a renaissance in the last two decades. This review article seeks to act as a primer of that field. It covers its historical roots, summarizes current research strands – along with their theoretical backbones and methodologies – in an accessible way, and sketches some considerations for the future. In doing so, we introduce relevant concepts, give an overview of different topics and phenomena subsumed under the broad umbrella term ‘dynamics’, and highlight the interdisciplinarity as well as applied relevance of the field. We hope this article can serve as a useful overview for scholars within and outside of personality psychology who are interested in the dynamic nature of human behaviour and experience.     

Adult attachment styles,early relationships,antenatal attachment,and perceptions of infant temperament: A study of first‐time mothers

We explored the relative contributions of first‐time mothers’romantic attachment styles and early relations with their own mothers to the prediction of infant temperamental difficulty. A mediating role for mother's attachment to the unborn baby was assumed. In a prospective longitudinal study of 115 mothers of healthy babies, a structural model was delineated according to a conception of maternally reported infant temperament as a reflection of basic aspects of the mother's personality and mother‐infant relationships. Mothers’experiences with their own mothers as supportive and nonintrusive differentiated between securely and insecurely attached participants. Security of attachment was found to facilitate antenatal attachment and perceptions of the 4‐month‐old infant as easier. Findings indicate that the effects of the mothers’romantic attachment styles on their perceptions of temperamental difficulty are mediated by their antenatal attachment. Moreover, the pattern of findings obtained suggests a link among mothers’history of relationships, romantic attachment styles, and caregiving characteristics that is congruent with evolutionary theoretical assumptions.     

Trauma as an objective or subjective experience: The association between types of traumatic events,personality traits,subjective experience of the event,and posttraumatic symptoms

The study aimed to examine the discrete effect of objective (type of trauma and demographic characteristics) and subjective (proximity to the trauma, subjective experience of the trauma as a threat, the Big Five personality traits, and dissociative symptoms) factors on the risk for PTSD among 1,210 undergraduate students. The findings indicate that survivors of physical/sexual assault scored the highest on proximity to the trauma, subjective experience of the trauma as a threat, neuroticism, dissociation, and PTSD symptoms. In addition, subjective experience of the trauma, proximity to it, type of trauma, dissociation, and neuroticism were associated with the risk for PTSD symptoms. The findings point to the significance of both subjective and objective variables in the risk for PTSD symptoms.     

Exploring the association between the 2-repeat allele of the MAOA gene promoter polymorphism and psychopathic personality traits,arrests, incarceration,and lifetime antisocial behavior

A line of research has revealed that a polymorphism in the promoter region of the MAOA gene is related to antisocial phenotypes. Most of these studies examine the effects of low MAOA activity alleles (2-repeat and 3-repeat alleles) against the effects of high MAOA activity alleles (3.5-repeat, 4-repeat, and sometimes 5-repeat alleles), with research indicating that the low MAOA activity alleles confer an increased risk to antisocial phenotypes. The current study examined whether the 2-repeat allele, which has been shown to be functionally different from the 3-repeat allele, was associated with a range of antisocial phenotypes in a sample of males drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Analyses revealed that African-American males who carried the 2-repeat allele were, in comparison with other African-American male genotypes, significantly more likely to be arrested and incarcerated. Additional analyses revealed that African-American male carriers of the 2-repeat allele scored significantly higher on an antisocial phenotype index and on measures assessing involvement in violent behaviors over the life course. There was not any association between the 2-repeat allele and a continuously measured psychopathic personality traits scale. The effects of the 2-repeat allele could not be examined in Caucasian males because only 0.1% carried it.     

Adult Attachment Styles and Psychological Disease: Examining the Mediating Role of Personality Traits

ABSTRACT

The aim of the present study was to examine differences in anxiety and depression related to differences in attachment models of the self and of others and whether personality traits mediate this relationship. The authors assessed attachment styles, anxiety, depression, and personality traits among 274 adult volunteers. Participants were classified into 4 attachment groups (secure, preoccupied, fearful, and dismissing–avoidant) according to K. Bartholomew's (1990) Bartholomew, K. 1990. Avoidance of intimacy: An attachment perspective. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 7: 147–178. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] model. The present authors found significant differences among attachment groups on anxiety and depressive symptoms with attachment styles involving a negative self-model showing higher scores than attachment styles characterized by a positive self-model. The authors also found that differences between attachment styles in anxiety and depression remained significant when personality factors related to attachment prototypes were entered as covariates. Results indicate that secure attachment in adults was associated with better mental health, while insecure attachment styles characterized by negative thinking about the self were associated with higher depression and anxiety scores. Our findings seem to evidence that attachment and personality are only partly overlapping and that attachment cannot be considered as redundant with personality in the explanation of psychological disease.