Perceived coping as a mediator between attachment and psychological distress: A structural equation modeling approach.

Abstract

This study examined perceived coping (perceived problem-solving ability and progress in coping with problems) as a mediator between adult attachment (anxiety and avoidance) and psychological distress (depression, hopelessness, anxiety, anger, and interpersonal problems). Survey data from 515 undergraduate students were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results indicated that perceived coping fully mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and psychological distress and partially mediated the relationship between attachment avoidance and psychological distress. These findings suggest not only that it is important to consider attachment anxiety or avoidance in understanding distress but also that perceived coping plays an important role in these relationships. Implications for these more complex relations are discussed for both counseling interventions and further research.In the past decade, researchers have found that Bowlby's attachment theory (1973, 1988) has important implications for coun-

Maladaptive perfectionism and ineffective coping as mediators between attachment and future depression: A prospective analysis.

“…In other words, persons with a high level of attachment anxiety and/or attachment avoidance tend to use ineffective coping strategies, which, in turn, increase their level of depression. Wei et al (2003) examined this pattern and found that ineffective coping served as a mediator between attachment and distress for a sample of college students. However, because these analyses were based on concurrent measures, it is not possible to draw any firm conclusions about the causal relations among these variables.…”

“…Research has indicated that, in college student samples, ineffective coping serves as a mediator between attachment and distress (Lopez et al, 2001Wei et al, 2003), maladaptive perfectionism serves as a mediator between attachment and depression (Wei et al, 2004), and avoidant coping (an index of ineffective coping) serves as a mediator between maladaptive perfectionism and depression (Dunkley et al, 2000(Dunkley et al, , 2003. On the basis of the results of these studies, it seems possible that the quality of attachment may contribute to the development of maladaptive perfectionism, ineffective coping, and depression among college students (i.e., attachment anxiety or avoidance3 maladaptive perfectionism 3 ineffective coping 3 depression).…”

“…A growing body of research has suggested a strong relation between adult attachment (i.e., anxiety and avoidance) and depressive symptoms (e.g., Besser & Priel, 2003;Carnelley, Pietromonaco, & Jaffe, 1994;Roberts, Gotlib, & Kassel, 1996;Wei, Heppner, & Mallinckrodt, 2003;Wei, Mallinckrodt, Russell, & Abraham, 2004). On the basis of this relation, it appears that one way to help people with high levels of attachment anxiety and/or avoidance decrease their feelings of depression is to alter their fundamental attachment patterns.…”

“…These mediators include low self-esteem (Roberts et al, 1996), problem-solving/coping styles or perceived coping effectiveness (Lopez, Mauricio, Gormley, Simko, & Berger, 2001;Wei et al, 2003), self-splitting and self-concealment (Lopez, Mitchell, & Gormley, 2002), social self-efficacy and emotional awareness (Mallinckrodt & Wei, 2005), maladaptive perfectionism (Wei et al, 2004), and emotional reactivity (i.e., finding it difficult to remain calm when experiencing intense emotions) or emotional cutoff or closure (i.e., pulling away when one is experiencing intense emotions; Wei, Vogel, Ku, & Zakalik, 2005). One limitation of these studies is the use of cross-sectional research designs in which all of the measures were assessed at the same point in time, which limits our ability to draw causal inferences from the findings.…”

“…Another strategy is to examine the mediating effects of other variables on the relation between attachment and depression or distress. Empirical studies of mediation provide one possible method for psychologists to develop workable clinical interventions (e.g., increasing effective coping; see Wei et al, 2003) instead of attempting to alter fundamental attachment patterns for individuals with high levels of attachment anxiety and/or avoidance.…”