Implications of a Four Dimensional Adult Attachment Style Model on Personality Disorder Pathology

Smith, Emma; Koenigsberg, Harold W.; New, Antonia S.; Hazlett, Erin A.; McNamara, Margaret; Perez‐Rodriguez, M. Mercedes

doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.02.1031

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As expected, the relationship between childhood abuse and neglect and interpersonal manipulation and callous affect traits was indirect through avoidant attachment style. This finding is supported by the previous literature (Gacono & Meloy, 1991;Gacono et al, 1992;Gambin et al, 2018;Meyer et al, 2001;Schimmenti et al, 2014). While previous literature suggests that fearful attachment is also related to erratic lifestyle and antisocial behavior traits (Schimmenti et al, 2014), the relationship between childhood abuse and neglect and erratic lifestyle and antisocial behavior traits was not mediated by any of the insecure attachment styles.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…This finding is supported by the previous literature (Gacono & Meloy, 1991;Gacono et al, 1992;Gambin et al, 2018;Meyer et al, 2001;Schimmenti et al, 2014). While previous literature suggests that fearful attachment is also related to erratic lifestyle and antisocial behavior traits (Schimmenti et al, 2014), the relationship between childhood abuse and neglect and erratic lifestyle and antisocial behavior traits was not mediated by any of the insecure attachment styles. Although our findings are not in line with the previous research, in another area of the literature it has been suggested that the two-factor model of STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELLING psychopathy does not adequately describe the concept of psychopathy (Cooke & Michie, 2001).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…Further, to the best of our knowledge, a multivariate analysis such as this has not been conducted in the literature and it is unclear how the parameters would interact with one another when estimated in a single model. Choosing to not specify priors is also based on the conflicting theories surrounding how attachment interacts with disordered personality traits (i.e., that psychopathy has been related to both avoidant and fearful attachment; Schimmenti et al, 2014). Four chains were run for 10,000 iterations, following a warmup (burnin) period of 1,000 iterations.…”

Section: Structural Equation Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Importantly, people with disordered personalities tend to have insecure attachment styles (Brennan & Shaver, 1998; Crawford et al, 2007; Meyer et al, 2001; Nakash et al, 2021; Smith et al, 2020) specifically avoidant attachment style is correlated with psychopathic traits (Gacono & Meloy, 1991; Gacono et al, 1992; Gambin et al, 2018; Meyer et al, 2001; Schimmenti et al, 2014), fearful is associated with psychopathic traits (Schimmenti et al, 2014), and anxious is associated with borderline traits (Carol & Davies, 1995; Levy, 2005; Nakash et al, 2021; Patrick, et al, 1994; Smith et al, 2020). It would seem from previous research that the relationship between childhood abuse and neglect and disordered personality traits may be indirect through insecure attachment (see Figure 1; Cohen et al, 2017; Roters, 2019; Roters & Book, 2023a).…”

Section: Attachmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Examining the complex relations between childhood adversity, mindfulness, attachment, and various personality outcomes: A Bayesian structural equation modeling approach.

Roters,

Book

2024

Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Research has demonstrated that childhood abuse and neglect can negatively impact individuals into adulthood. Abuse and neglect are associated with insecure attachment, lower mindfulness, and disordered personality traits, including borderline and psychopathic traits. Objective: The purpose of our present study was two-fold; first, we wanted to replicate the finding that the relationships between abuse and neglect and these traits are partly indirect through insecure attachment. Second, we wanted to determine whether mindfulness is an additional mediator in these relationships. Method: A sample of 291 undergraduate students participated in the current study (M age = 21.7, SD = 6.5). Results: Findings from a Bayesian Structural Equation Model supported the prediction that the relationship between childhood abuse and neglect and disordered personality traits was indirect through insecure attachment. More specifically, for borderline traits it was indirect through anxious attachment while interpersonal manipulation and callous affect psychopathic traits it was indirect through avoidant attachment. Importantly, mindfulness was not a significant mediator in the model for any of the outcome variables. Conclusions: Overall, there was support for the idea that insecure attachment was a potential mechanism in the relationship between childhood abuse and neglect and disordered personality traits, though there was no support for mindfulness as a potential mediator. Implications are discussed. Clinical Impact StatementChildhood abuse and neglect have been implicated in the development of disordered personality traits, including borderline and psychopathic traits. Such traits are related to various negative outcomes, including risk-taking, impulsivity, and hostility (American Psychological Association [APA], 2013), highlighting the need to find targets for intervention. Our findings indicate that the relationship between abuse/neglect and borderline traits appears to be indirect through anxious attachment while the relationship between abuse/neglect and psychopathic traits (interpersonal manipulation and callous affect) is mediated by avoidant attachment. Mindfulness was not a significant mediator in these relationships.

show abstract