Gender moderates the relationship between attachment insecurities and emotion dysregulation

Abstract

The relation between attachment styles and emotion regulation is well documented, and emotion\ud dysregulation is considered characteristic of individuals with insecure attachment styles. Although\ud gender differences in emotion regulation have often been reported, it is not clear whether the\ud association between attachment styles and aspects of emotion dysregulation may vary across\ud gender. A sample of 229 newlywed couples completed the Experiences in Close Relationship–\ud Revised scale and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. First, we confirmed previous\ud evidence on the association between attachment insecurities and emotion dysregulation. Indeed,\ud attachment anxiety and avoidance were both related to emotional nonacceptance and lack of\ud emotional clarity. Moreover, attachment anxiety was associated with difficulties in impulse control\ud and limited access to effective emotion regulation strategies, whereas attachment avoidance was\ud uniquely related to lack of emotional awareness. Finally, gender was found to moderate the\ud association that both attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance had with difficulties in pursuing\ud desired goals when experiencing negative emotions. Specifically, among women (but not men),\ud attachment anxiety was associated with greater difficulties in engaging in goal-directed behavior\ud when distressed. Conversely, the association between attachment avoidance and difficulties in\ud pursuing desired goals when distressed was positive for men and negative for women

College Students’ Adult Attachment and Career Adaptability: Mediation by Maladaptive Perfectionism and Moderation by Gender

“…The relation between adult attachment insecurity, maladaptive perfectionism, and career adaptability was stronger for female students than for their male counterparts. This finding corresponds with the results of Velotti et al’s study (2016) that the positive association between attachment insecurity and difficulties in engaging in goal-directed behavior was found to be significant only for women, not for men. The gender effects may be related to differences in the degree to which women and men are oriented to relationships.…”

Social support serves emotion regulation function in death anxiety among people living with HIV/AIDS

“…Extensive discussions on the concept and its development across the lifespan exist (Campos et al, 2004; Gross & Munoz, 1995; Gross & Thompson, 2007; Yap et al, 2007). Emotion regulation plays an important role in determining healthy functioning or well-being in both women and men (Dochnal et al, 2019; Ifeagwazi et al, 2019; Sekwena & Fontaine, 2018; Velotti et al, 2016).…”

Attachment style and emotion dysregulation as serial mediators of betrayal trauma experiences and level of satisfaction in romantic relationships

“…Alternatively, decreases in attachment security from four to six years old were related to increases in maladaptive emotion regulation from six to eight years old. These results corroborate arguments that emotion regulation abilities are characteristic of differing attachment styles over time, such that adaptive emotion regulation is characteristic of secure attachment, and emotion dysregulation is characteristic of insecure attachment styles (e.g., Velotti et al, 2016).…”

“…Last, those who are avoidantly attached try to escape the discomfort of distress or anxiety and adopt coping strategies that aim to inhibit and control their emotions and are indifferent to their caretakers. In support of this,Velotti et al (2016), recently found anxious and avoidant attachments to relate to lack of clarity of experienced emotion as well as non-acceptance concerning negative emotions. Anxiously attached individuals struggle with controlling their impulses, while avoidantly attached individuals lack emotional self-awareness.…”

“…As discussed earlier, betrayal trauma experiences, attachment style, and various elements of emotion dysregulation have each been shown to have relations to relationship satisfaction (Allen, Rhoades, Stanley, & Markman, 2010;Erbes, 2011;Nelson Goff, Crow, Reisbig, & Hamilton, 2007;Cook, Riggs, Thompson, Coyne, & Sheikh, 2004;Sayers, Farrow, Ross, & Oslin, 2009;Knapp, Knapp, Brown, & Larson, 2017;Hyland, Tsujmoto, & Hamilton, 1993;Davis & Petretic-Jackson, 2000;Hadden, Smith, & Webster, 2014;Mikulincer, Florian, Cowan, & Cowan, 2002;Sadikaj, Moskowitz, & Zuroff, 2015;Collins & Read, 1990;Simpson, 1990;Kirkpatrick & Davis, 1994;Givertz, Woszidlo, Segrin, & Knutson, 2013;Rick, Falconier, & Wittenborn, 2017;Vater & Schröder-Abé, 2015;Butler et al, 2003;English, John, Srivastava, & Gross, 2012;Impett et al, 2012). Attachment style has also been shown to be directly related to facets of emotion dysregulation (Crittenden, 1992;Kobak & Sceery, 1998;Mikulincer & Shaver, 2003;Velotti et al, 2016;Viddal, Berg-Nielsen, Belsky, & Wichstrøm, 2017;Marganska, Gallagher, & Miranda, 2013). Additionally, in past research, both attachment style and emotion dysregulation have been shown to be independent mediators of relationship satisfaction (Whiffen & MacIntosh, 2005;Godbout, Sabourin, & Lussier, 2009;Rellini, 2008;Rellini, Vujanovic, & Zvolensky, 2010;Bradbury & Shaffer, 2012).…”