Attachment anxiety and depressive symptoms in undergraduate medical students: The mediating role of emotion regulation strategies

Abstract

Introduction Several studies report that medical students are at high risk of depression. Despite the variability in students’ vulnerability to depression, the role of individual differences in depression risk among medical students has hardly been investigated. Studies outside of medical student populations have shown that individual differences in attachment style and emotion regulation participate in vulnerability to depression. Objectives This study investigates to what extent medical students’ depressive symptoms are related to differences in students’ insecure attachment styles and their perception of reduced access to emotion regulation strategies. Methods In a cross-sectional quantitative study, undergraduate medical students at the beginning of their second academic year completed online questionnaires measuring their attachment style, difficulties in emotion regulation, and depressive symptoms. Results Out of the 390 medical students invited, 267 participated in the survey. Higher secure attachment was associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Medical students’ insecure attachment style and emotion dysregulation were significantly related to depressive symptoms. Difficulties in employing strategies to disengage from one’s own negative affect partly mediated the effects of two dimensions of insecure anxious attachment—need for approval and preoccupation with relationships—on depressive symptoms. Discussion Anxious attachment style and limited access to emotion regulation strategies participate in medical students’ depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the need for acknowledging medical students’ attachment style and students’ perceived access to emotion regulation strategies for the early identification of and intervention programs for the risk of depression.

Undergraduate Interprofessional Education in the European Higher Education Area: A Systematic Review

“…From a methodological perspective, it is fundamental to establish standardized preand post-intervention measures and protocols for the measurement of the target dependent variables, to include students from different professions and control groups (e.g., students from non-healthcare professions), and to describe the backgrounds of the educators. In addition, given the key role of emotions in learning [72,73] and in interprofessional healthcare [74], future studies should include measures of the affective dimension of learning, such as changes of achievement emotions [72], learning performance to emotionally salient educational material [75], students' emotional traits and needs [76,77], and modulation of students' response bias [78]. Furthermore, given the limited validity of the available questionnaires to measure interprofessional attitude and skills, the development of instruments based on available data and consensus statements are warranted.…”

Insecure Attachment and Depressive Symptoms among a Large Sample of Chinese Young Adults: The Mediating Role of Positive and Negative Self-Compassion

“…Hence, this study concentrates on interpersonal factors that contribute to depressive symptoms in college students, aiming to offer more specific intervention recommendations [ 1 , 3 ]. Specifically, insecure attachment, including attachment anxiety and avoidance, which mirror individuals’ insecure internal representations of themselves, others, and their interactions, could potentially have an adverse impact on depressive symptoms among college students [ 4 , 5 ]. From an attachment theory perspective [ 5 ], insecure attachment divides into attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance, delineated by contrasting perceptions of the self and others [ 6 ].…”

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