Alexithymia and Adult Attachment: Investigating the Mediating Role of Fear of Intimacy and Negative Mood Regulation Expectancies

Abstract

Literature suggests an association between alexithymia and insecure adult attachment, but the mediation factors involved in this relationship are under-investigated. The study was carried out to test the possible mediation roles of the fear of intimacy and negative mood regulation expectancies in explaining this relationship. A convenience sample of 258 Polish adults (mean age: 30; 45% male), completed self-reporting measures related to adult attachment (RAAS), alexithymia (TAS-20), fear of intimacy (FIS) and negative mood regulation expectancies (NMRE). The results showed that alexithymia directly and indirectly predicts insecure adult attachment. Alexithymia positively predicts the fear of intimacy, which, in turn, positively predicts insecure adult attachment. Finally, alexithymia negatively predicts NMRE which, in turn, predict insecure adult attachment. It emerges from our data that the fear of intimacy and NMRE may be mediating factors in the relationship between alexithymia and adult attachment. Limitations, future directions of research and guidance for intervention are discussed.

Effects of use motivations and alexithymia on smartphone addiction: mediating role of insecure attachment

“…First, the results for the relationships between alexithymia traits and insecure attachment styles were in line with those obtained by Scigala et al (2022). Moreover, consistent with the findings of Xiao et al (2021), smartphone addiction was positively predicted by DIF and EOT.…”

“…Parents and teachers should also strive toward closing the emotional gap between them and adolescents by designing additional interventions that can compensate for the unmet needs of the latter, such as team counseling and leisure activities ( Xiang et al, 2022 ). They also need to identify those adolescents with narrative disorders and insecure attachment styles in a timely manner and offer them much-needed support accordingly ( Scigala et al, 2022 ).…”

“…In this direction, adolescents with insecure attachment may be affected by difficulties in emotion regulation in alexithymia and are associated with smartphone addiction (Pellerone et al, 2017;Lyvers et al, 2022). Boldrini et al (2021) and Scigala et al (2022) found proof to support the relationships of alexithymia with both attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance, which could be ascribed to the challenges faced by individuals when regulating their emotions. Other scholars have argued that due to their lack of psychosocial resources, such as high cognitive impairment and limited social support, individuals with alexithymia tend to alleviate their negative feelings via attachment avoidance or anxiety coping mechanisms, which lead to attachment insecurities (Xiang et al, 2022).…”

Alexithymia in the Narratization of Romantic Relationships: The Mediating Role of Fear of Intimacy

“…Alexithymia is characterised not only by a problem with recognising and communicating emotions and outward-oriented thinking, but it is also associated with a disturbed process of affective self-regulation [6]. A great deal of research has been dedicated to verifying the hypothesis that interpersonal difficulties are evident in the romantic relationships of individuals with high levels of alexithymia [7][8][9][10][11][12].…”

Validación Chilena del Cuestionario de Evaluación de Apego en el adulto CaMir versión abreviada

“…Por último, las personas evitativas tienden a distanciarse de las situaciones emocionales y a suprimir estados emocionales negativos, bloquean el acceso consciente a las experiencias emocionales, se esfuerzan en minimizar la cercanía e interdependencia, enfatizan la autoconfianza y la búsqueda de apoyo es percibida como un riesgo (Mikulincer y Sha-ver;. Lo anterior es respaldado por una revisión sistemática recientemente publicada (Eilert y Buchheim, 2023), sumado a diversos estudios estos últimos años en el área, que siguen aportando evidencia que reafirma los hallazgos descritos (Dančík et al, 2021;Domic-Siede et al, 2023;Ferraro y Taylor, 2021;Mikulincer y Shaver, 2022;Sahin et al, 2023;Salinas-Quiroz et al, 2023;Scigala et al, 2022;Tammilehto et al, 2022;Uccula et al, 2022).…”