Are adult attachment styles categorical or dimensional? A taxometric analysis of general and relationship-specific attachment orientations.

Fraley, R. Chris; Hudson, Nathan W.; Heffernan, Marie E.; Segal, Noam

doi:10.1037/pspp0000027

Cited by 290 publications

(270 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…It is assumed that these internal models guide thoughts, feelings and behaviours in interpersonal relationships (Bowlby, 1973;Mikulincer & Shaver, 2016;Pietromonaco, Barrett, & Powers, 2006). Individual differences in adult attachment have been examined along two independent dimensions, attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety (Fraley, Hudson, Heffernan, & Segal, 2015).…”

Section: Attachment and Emotion Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attachment and adaptation to breast cancer: The mediating role of avoidant emotion processes

2018

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Attachment insecurity is associated with difficulties in adapting to cancer. Accumulating evidence points to the influence of avoidant emotion processes in this association. This study explored this pathway by examining the association between attachment insecurity and quality of life in women with breast cancer, and by exploring the mediating role of two avoidant emotion processes in this association. Women with breast cancer (N = 155) completed measures of attachment, emotional suppression, emotional awareness and quality of life. Avoidance of attachment was positively associated with emotional suppression (β = .29, p < .01) and lack of emotional awareness (β = .27, p < .01), and negatively associated with quality of life (β = -.22, p < .05). Lack of emotional awareness partially mediated the relationship between attachment avoidance and quality of life (indirect effect β = -.12, p = .008). Attachment anxiety was not associated with any variable. Attachment avoidance may hinder the process of adaptation to breast cancer and difficulties in identifying and describing emotions may be partly responsible for this influence. Access to and ability to benefit from social and medical supports is likely to depend on being able to engage with others and recognise and process emotions effectively. Research and clinical implications are discussed.

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Section: Attachment and Emotion Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attachment and adaptation to breast cancer: The mediating role of avoidant emotion processes

2018

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“…The same 9 items can be used with the distinct relationships described above. Recently, a new supplementing item set was designed to assess people's general attachment styles (Fraley et al, 2015). The 9 items can be used also to assess only one kind of relationship, which is described as a short 9-item version of the ECR-R. We included one set of 9 items to assess only one relationship style: People's general attachment styles.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impaired Maintenance of Interpersonal Synchronization in Musical Improvisations of Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder

2017

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Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious and complex mental disorder with a lifetime prevalence of 5.9%, characterized by pervasive difficulties with emotion regulation, impulse control, and instability in interpersonal relationships and self-image. Impairments in interpersonal functioning have always been a prominent characteristic of BPD, indicating a need for research to identify the specific interpersonal processes that are problematic for diagnosed individuals. Previous research has concentrated on self-report questionnaires, unidirectional tests, and experimental paradigms wherein the exchange of social signals between individuals was not the focus. We propose joint musical improvisation as an alternative method to investigate interpersonal processes. Using a novel, carefully planned, ABA′ accompaniment paradigm, and taking into account the possible influences of mood, psychotropic medication, general attachment, and musical sophistication, we recorded piano improvisations of 16 BPD patients and 12 matched healthy controls. We hypothesized that the insecure attachment system associated with BPD would be activated in the joint improvisation and manifest in measures of timing behavior. Results indicated that a logistic regression model, built on differences in timing deviations, predicted diagnosis with 82% success. More specifically, over the course of the improvisation B section (freer improvisation), controls' timing deviations decreased (temporal synchrony became more precise) whereas that of the patients with BPD did not, confirming our hypothesis. These findings are in accordance with previous research, where BPD is characterized by difficulties in attachment relationships such as maintaining strong attachment with others, but it is novel to find empirical evidence of such issues in joint musical improvisation. We suggest further longitudinal research within the field of music therapy, to study how recovery of these timing habits are related to attachment experiences and interpersonal functioning in general.

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“…In adolescents, these domains have also been referred to as attachment preoccupation and dismissiveness, respectively (Furman & Buhrmester, 2009). The domain approach to understanding attachment is different than categorical types often described in developmental literature (e.g., secure versus avoidant); however, these two approaches share many conceptual similarities (for discussion, see Fraley et al, 2015). In both approaches, attachment anxiety (preoccupation) involves ongoing concerns about potential abandonment and efforts to maintain closeness; attachment avoidance (dismissiveness) involves minimization of the importance of relationships and efforts to avoid intimacy.…”

Section: Influence Of Attachment Style On Observation and Expression mentioning

confidence: 99%

Depressive Symptoms in Mothers and Daughters: Attachment Style Moderates Reporter Agreement

Milan

Wortel

Ramirez

et al. 2016

J Abnorm Child Psychol

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Parents and adolescents show only modest agreement when reporting on depressive symptoms. Drawing from attachment theory and previous research on informant discrepancies, we tested hypotheses about how adolescent attachment style may impact reporting agreement in a sample of 184 low-income mother-adolescent daughter dyads (adolescent mean age = 15.4 (SD = 1.05), maternal mean age = 41.4 (SD = 7.60); 58% Latina, 26% African-American/Black, 16% as non-Hispanic, White). Mothers and adolescents reported on their own and each others’ depressive symptoms and adolescents reported on attachment style. Using a moderated Actor Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) to calculate reporter bias and accuracy estimates, we tested whether attachment style moderated maternal and adolescent accuracy in theoretically consistent ways. Mothers and adolescents showed similar levels of accuracy and bias when reporting on each other. Consistent with hypotheses, we found that adolescents who reported high levels of preoccupation were less accurate when reporting on their mothers because they tended to observe symptoms that their mothers did not endorse. Conversely, mothers were the most accurate in these dyads, potentially because preoccupied adolescents tend to elevate displays of emotional distress. Reporting accuracy was not affected by a dismissive style. These results add to literature indicating that parent-child reporting discrepancies often reflect meaningful information about relationships, and highlight the need to consider different sources of reporting bias and accuracy in assessment and treatment.

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Are adult attachment styles categorical or dimensional? A taxometric analysis of general and relationship-specific attachment orientations.

Cited by 290 publications

References 69 publications

Attachment and adaptation to breast cancer: The mediating role of avoidant emotion processes

Attachment and adaptation to breast cancer: The mediating role of avoidant emotion processes

Impaired Maintenance of Interpersonal Synchronization in Musical Improvisations of Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder

Depressive Symptoms in Mothers and Daughters: Attachment Style Moderates Reporter Agreement

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