Indirect pathways between depressive symptoms and marital distress: the role of conflict communication, attributions, and attachment style

Previous studies have focused on concomitants of depression and marital distress in order to help explain the relationship between the two, suggesting that several variables, such as conflict communication, attributions, and attachment style, are associated with depression, marital distress, or both. Our contention is that the selected variables may be important mediators (hypothesis 1) or moderators (hypothesis 2) of the concomitance between depression and marital adjustment, exploring the direct and indirect ways in which depressive symptoms and marital adjustment are related. In total, 415 heterosexual couples were recruited, and a series of regression analyses was conducted to test our hypotheses separately for men and women. Results indicated that demand-withdrawal, avoidance, causal attributions, and secure, ambivalent, and avoidant attachment mediated the relation between depressive symptoms and marital adjustment in the female sample, whereas constructive communication and causal and responsible attributions were significant mediators of men's levels of depressive symptoms and marital adjustment. In addition, avoidance and secure attachment moderated the association between depressive symptoms and marital adjustment in the female sample, and causal attributions were significant moderators of the association between depressive symptoms and marital adjustment for men. Several conclusions and implications for theory and future research are discussed.     

Chinese Christians in America: Attachment to God,Stress, and Well‐Being

This study examined whether attachment to God moderated the relation between perceived stress and well‐being (i.e., life satisfaction and positive affect) among 183 Chinese Christian international students and immigrants. Results showed significant main effects of (a) perceived stress on life satisfaction and (b) secure attachment to God and avoidant attachment to God on life satisfaction and positive affect. There was a significant interaction of perceived stress and avoidant attachment to God on life satisfaction. Specifically, high avoidant attachment to God exacerbated the association between perceived stress and life satisfaction, whereas low avoidant attachment to God buffered the association between perceived stress and life satisfaction.     

Environmental threat influences psychological distress and marital satisfaction among avoidantly attached individuals

This research examined the impact of stressful environments on marital relationships. In all, 133 Israeli couples exposed to different levels of terror threat and political uncertainty completed measures of attachment orientation, psychological distress, and marital satisfaction. Results indicated that in low‐threat areas, spouses high on attachment avoidance did not express distress despite their marital dissatisfaction. In contrast, in high‐threat areas, spouses high on attachment avoidance exhibited greater psychological distress, and psychological distress mediated the relation between attachment avoidance and marital dissatisfaction. Psychological distress only partially mediated the relation between attachment anxiety and marital dissatisfaction in the entire sample. The discussion stresses the importance of considering attachment dimensions when studying the effects of external stressors on marital relations.     

Attachment,marital interaction,and relationship satisfaction: A diary study

The relations among measures of attachment, spouse behavior, and marital satisfaction were assessed in a broad sample of 193 married couples, using both questionnaire and diary methods. Insecure attachment was associated with less favorable reports of spouse behavior, as assessed by diary checklists. Marital satisfaction was predicted by attachment measures and reports of spouse behavior. The relation between attachment security and marital satisfaction was moderated, but not mediated, by reported spouse behavior. Specifically, insecure individuals’ evaluations of their relationships were more reactive to recent spouse behavior, an effect that was especially marked for fearful participants and for those in longer‐term marriages. Some gender differences in patterns of prediction were obtained. The results are discussed in terms of the working models associated with attachment styles, and the processes by which relationship satisfaction may be eroded over time.     

Parental attachment,romantic competence,relationship satisfaction,and psychosocial adjustment in emerging adulthood

Research has found significant relations between attachment to parents and psychosocial adjustment. This study explored parental attachment and psychosocial adjustment during emerging adulthood with romantic competence and relationship satisfaction as mediators. In a sample of 188 emerging adult college students, results revealed that mother and father attachment uniquely predicted greater life satisfaction and less distress. Regression analyses showed that romantic competence predicted better psychosocial adjustment, controlling for attachment style and mutuality, and significantly mediated, along with relationship satisfaction, the link between mother attachment and psychosocial adjustment. Additionally, patterns of secure parental attachment, when compared with avoidant or ambivalent attachment, were associated with better psychosocial adjustment. Clearly, secure attachment provides a template for successful romantic relationship development and thereby contributes to greater psychosocial adjustment.     

Adaptive and Maladaptive Perfectionism as Mediators of Adult Attachment Styles and Depression,Hopelessness, and Life Satisfaction

This study examined the relationships between adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism, anxious and avoidant adult attachment styles, depression, hopelessness, and life satisfaction among a sample of 180 undergraduate students. Maladaptive perfectionism mediated the relationship between both forms of adult attachment and depression, hopelessness, and life satisfaction. Adaptive perfectionism mediated the relationship between avoidant adult attachment and hopelessness and life satisfaction. Implications for counselors and future research directions are discussed.     

Pathways between attachment and marital satisfaction: The mediating roles of rumination,empathy, and forgiveness

This study explored a path to marital satisfaction based on attachment theory. For this purpose, a sample of 208 Korean married teachers completed a survey on adult attachment, rumination, empathy, forgiveness, and marital satisfaction. Through structural equation modeling (SEM), a path in which adult attachment leads to marital satisfaction, mediated by dispositional forgiveness, was found. I also found a distinctive path by which anxious and avoidant attachment negatively affect forgiveness and marital satisfaction through excessive rumination and lack of empathy. These results suggest that the most accurate model of the relation between attachment, rumination, empathy, forgiveness, and marital satisfaction involves analyzing direct, indirect, and gender effects. Marriage counselors and therapists can use these results to gain a deeper understanding of the underpinnings of marital life and, ultimately, help reduce the very high divorce rate in Korea.     

Adult attachment style and stress as risk factors for early maternal sensitivity and negativity

The current study examined the individual and joint effects of self‐reported adult attachment style, psychological distress, and parenting stress on maternal caregiving behaviors at 6 and 12 months of child age. We proposed a diathesis‐stress model to examine the potential deleterious effects of stress for mothers with insecure adult attachment styles. Data from 137 mothers were gathered by the longitudinal Durham Child Health and Development Study. Mothers provided self‐reports using C. Hazan and P. Shaver's ( 1987 ) Adult Attachment Style measure, the Brief Symptom Inventory (L.R. Derogatis & P.M. Spencer, 1982 ), and the Parent Stress Inventory (R.R. Abidin, 1995 ); observations of parenting data were made from 10‐min free‐play interactions. Consistently avoidant mothers were less sensitive with their infants than were consistently secure mothers; however, this effect was limited to avoidant mothers who experienced elevated levels of psychological distress. Results suggest that the association between insecure adult attachment style and insensitive parenting behavior is moderated by concurrent psychosocial stress. Clinical implications for these findings are discussed.     

Attachment orientations and depression: a longitudinal study of new parents

In this longitudinal study, we followed a large sample of first-time parents (both partners) across the first 2 years of the transition to parenthood. Guided by attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969), we tested several predictions about how attachment anxiety and avoidance are related to the incidence, maintenance, increase, and decline of depressive symptoms in both sexes across the first 2 years of the transition. We found that (a) the association between attachment anxiety and depressive symptoms was moderated by factors related to the marital and/or romantic relationship; (b) the association between avoidance and depressive symptoms was moderated by factors related to family responsibilities; (c) styles of caregiving provided by romantic partners affected depressive symptoms differently among anxious and avoidant persons; and (d) in certain predictable situations, depressive symptoms persisted at higher levels or increased to higher levels in anxious or avoidant persons across the 2-year transition period. Important implications of these results are discussed.     

Adult attachment style and partner choice: Correlational and experimental findings

Three studies were conducted to assess the role of attachment style in partner selection using both correlational and experimental methods. Study 1 (n = 83 couples) assessed correlations between partner ratings on attachment-style dimensions and the relations between own and partner attachment style and relationship satisfaction. In Study 2 (n = 226) and Study 3 (n = 146), participants who varied in terms of attachment style rated the desirability of potential partners who also differed in terms of attachment style. Results of all three studies generally suggested that individuals were most attracted to partners with similar attachment styles. For example, anxious individuals tended to be dating anxious partners in Study 1, and they preferred anxious partners over secure and avoidant partners in Studies 2 and 3 (combined data). Thus, not all individuals preferred secure partners. Second, unlike previous studies that looked primarily at partner correlations, there was no evidence of anxious/avoidant matching. In fact, anxious individuals seemed particularly averse to avoidant partners. Finally, ratings of parental caregiving styles (especially ratings of mothers) were associated with adult attachment dimensions and partner choices. For example, individuals who rated their mothers as more cold and ambivalent were less attracted to secure partners. Clinical and research implications are discussed.     

The Role of Attachment in Immigrant Sociocultural Adaptation and Psychological Distress

The study extends recent research on the link between attachment security and the sociocultural and psychological adaptation of immigrants. It was hypothesised that attachment style would moderate the effects of sociocultural adaptation difficulties on psychological distress and the relationship between attachment style and immigrant background variables was explored. The study was correlational and questionnaire‐based, including a sample of 172 Brazilian immigrants living in the UK. According to the findings, secure and dismissing attachment styles moderated the effects of sociocultural adaptation difficulties on psychological distress. Preoccupied attachment style moderated the effects of previous immigration experience on psychological distress and the effects of duration of stay in the UK on concerns over terrorism. Future studies should employ longitudinal designs and include a variety of immigrant groups. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ethnic and cultural variations in anger regulation and attachment patterns among Korean American and European American male batterers

This study examined relationships among ethnicity, self-construals, and 2 risk factors for marital violence (anger, insecure attachment) in Korean American and European American male batterers. Korean (vs. European) American batterers experienced more anger and controlled their anger less. Independent self-construal was positively associated with anger experience and anger control and mediated the influence of ethnicity on anger control. Korean batterers were less independent, and less independent batterers controlled their anger less. Korean batterers' attachment styles were more avoidant and less anxious. Independent and interdependent self-construals were negatively associated with anxious and avoidant attachment, respectively. Independent self-construal mediated the influence of ethnicity on avoidant attachment. Clinical severity and adherence to traditional gender roles may help explain these ethnic and cultural variations.     

Adult attachment styles and mothers' relationships with their young children

This research examined the relationship between adult attachment styles and mothers' feelings of closeness to their children, mothers' interaction styles in a teaching situation, individual differences in the desire to have children, and the concerns individuals have about their ability to relate to young children as parents. Investigation 1 revealed that more avoidant mothers did not feel as close to their preschool children as did more secure mothers, and they behaved less supportively toward their children during a laboratory teaching task. Anxious-ambivalence was also associated with feelings of less closeness, but the level of closeness achieved depended on marital quality. Investigation 2 showed that more avoidant college men and women, compared to secure ones, were more uncertain about their capacity to relate to young children and about whether they wanted to have children. Highly ambivalent men and women reported being more uncertain about their capacity to function well as parents, but ambivalence was not related to the strength of the desire to have children. These findings are discussed in the context of attachment theory.     

Positive and negative affect, life satisfaction, and coping with stress by attachment styles in Turkish students

The purpose was to investigate positive and negative affect, life satisfaction, and coping with stress in relation to attachment styles. Undergraduate students (N=421) completed the Relationship Scales Questionnaire, the Positive and Negative Affect Scale, the Satisfaction With Life Scale, and the Coping with Stress Scale. Results indicated that secure attachment style was the unique predictor of positive affect while fearful and preoccupied attachment styles significantly predicted negative affect. Regarding life satisfaction, a positive correlation with secure attachment style and a negative correlation with fearful and preoccupied styles were seen. However, the unique predictor of life satisfaction was preoccupied attachment style. In terms of coping with stress, there was no significant association between attachment variables and avoidance coping style, but significant links were observed between problem-focused coping and dismissing, and fearful and preoccupied attachment styles.     

Dissociative experiences and anger proneness in late adolescent females with different attachment styles

The study examined the relationships among dissociative experiences, anger proneness, and attachment styles in late adolescent females. One hundred sixty-two college students (mean age = 17.5 years) were assessed using the Dissociative Experience Scale (DES), the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI), and the Adult Attachment Questionnaire (AAQ), a self-report tool for assessing attachment styles (avoidant, secure, and ambivalent-resistant) in close relationships of youths and adults. Significant correlations were obtained between DES scores (total and factorial) and STAXI scores (State Anger, Trait Anger, Anger/In, and Anger/Expression), confirming in a nonclinical sample the connection between anger proneness and dissociation described in patients with dissociative disorders. Insecure females, particularly ambivalent ones, scored higher on the DES, supporting van der Kolk's hypothesis of an inverse relationship between secure attachment and dissociative tendency. Moreover, insecurely attached females showed more anger proneness, with some differences between ambivalent and avoidant types. Further research should be conducted to examine these relationships in males, as well as to clarify the role of insecure attachment in anger management and the recourse to dissociation in late adolescence as a protective response to trauma and emotional distress.     

Why am I unsatisfied? Adult attachment style, gendered irrational relationship beliefs, and young adult romantic relationship satisfaction

Are individual differences in adult attachment styles (secure, anxious-ambivalent, or avoidant) associated with differential adherence to relationship-specific irrational beliefs? Does endorsement of irrational relationship beliefs relate to actual relationship dissatisfaction? These questions were explored with a sample of 118 male and female college students. Results indicated that insecure individuals (anxious-ambivalent or avoidant) endorsed significantly more relationship-specific irrational beliefs than those with a secure adult attachment style. Gendered patterns of endorsement of specific irrational beliefs cluster were also observed. Further, both an insecure adult attachment style and stronger adherence to relationship-specific irrational beliefs were related to diminished relationship satisfaction.     

The impact of adult attachment style on organizational commitment and adult attachment in the workplace

Adult attachment style has only recently been considered as having a role in explaining work behavior. The present research aimed to explore the impact of adult attachment style, assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), on organizational commitment (OC) and on adult attachment in the workplace (AAW). We hypothesized that a secure attachment style would be positively related to affective and normative commitment, while preoccupied and avoidant styles would be negatively related to affective commitment; we also hypothesized that there would be a correspondence between the AAI categories and the AAW dimensions. Using the AAI categories as group variable, analysis of average OC and AAW scores confirmed the hypotheses. Secure workers had a higher mean score for affective commitment than avoidant and preoccupied workers; normative commitment was higher in avoidant than in secure and preoccupied workers; continuance commitment was higher in preoccupied than in secure and avoidant workers. Moreover, AAI categories converged with AAW dimensions: secure workers had higher secure AAW scores than avoidant and preoccupied workers; avoidant workers had higher avoidant AAW scores than secure and preoccupied workers; preoccupied workers had higher preoccupied AAW scores than secure and avoidant workers.     

老年人夫妻依恋稳定性及其与配偶支持的关系

通过追踪研究,考察了老年人夫妻依恋的稳定性及配偶支持情况对夫妻依恋稳定性的影响.共有75名配偶健在的老年人参与了间隔3年的两次调查,第一次参与研究时的年龄范围为60~84岁.老年人夫妻依恋问卷和配偶支持问卷分别用来测量夫妻依恋和经历生活事件时夫妻间的支持情况.结果表明:(1)老年人夫妻依恋安全、依恋焦虑和依恋回避的跨时间稳定性较低;(2)对于依恋的变化,配偶支持是较生活事件发生数量更有效的预测指标,觉知到的配偶支持水平和支持满意度能够显著预测依恋安全、依恋焦虑和依恋回避分数的改变.     

Differences in Unit Cohesion and Combat-Related Mental Health Problems Based on Attachment Styles in US Military Veterans

This study explored the differences in perceived unit cohesion, trauma symptoms, depression symptoms, and anxiety symptoms controlling for childhood trauma, based on attachment style in US military veterans. Previous studies have reported that higher levels of military unit cohesion, bonding through the social relationships between service members and their larger units, and secure attachment, are negatively associated with trauma symptoms, depression symptoms, and anxiety symptoms in veterans. This study examined mental health distress symptoms as well as military unit cohesion across attachment styles. Results suggest mean differences in trauma symptoms, depression symptoms, and anxiety symptoms across attachment styles. However, there was no difference in perceived unit cohesion across the four attachment styles. Those using fearful-avoidant attachment styles reported the highest mean trauma, depression, and anxiety symptoms followed by those using a dismissing-avoidant attachment style. Those using a secure attachment style reported the least mean trauma, depression, and anxiety symptoms. Implications for assessing and treating avoidant type attachment styles are discussed.     

Attachment and exploration in adulthood: The mediating effect of social support

Research examining the relationship between adult attachment styles and exploratory behavior has shown that anxious and avoidant attachment styles are negatively related to exploration. However, little research has been conducted on the mediation process between adult attachment styles and exploration. Given that perceived social support has been shown to be the basis for secure attachment and may be related to exploration behavior, the current study examines whether perceived social support mediates the relationship between adult attachment and exploration. University students in Taiwan (N = 168) completed questionnaires that assessed attachment styles; perceived social support from their father, mother, and best friend; and their intellectual, social, and environmental exploration. Our results revealed that perceived social support mediates the relationship between avoidant attachment and exploration behavior.