Adult Attachment, Affect Regulation, Negative Mood, and Interpersonal Problems: The Mediating Roles of Emotional Reactivity and Emotional Cutoff.

Abstract

This study examined the mediating role of affect regulation among attachment, negative mood, and interpersonal problems. Participants were 229 college students at a large midwest university. Structural equation modeling indicated attachment anxiety and avoidance contributed to negative mood and interpersonal problems through different and distinct affect regulation strategies (i.e., emotional reactivity or emotional cutoff). The association between attachment anxiety, negative mood, and interpersonal problems was mediated only by emotional reactivity (not emotional cutoff). Conversely, the association between attachment avoidance, negative mood, and interpersonal problems was mediated only by emotional cutoff (not emotional reactivity). Furthermore, emotional reactivity and emotional cutoff explained 36% of the variance in negative mood; attachment, emotional reactivity, and emotional cutoff explained 75% of the variance in interpersonal problems.Attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969(Bowlby, , 1973(Bowlby, , 1980(Bowlby, , 1988 represents an important theoretical perspective for understanding an individual's experience of negative mood and interpersonal problems. The basic premise of attachment theory is that individuals' emotional experiences with primary caregivers lead to the development of attachment security or insecurity. Attachment security or insecurity is then associated with the individuals' ability to connect with others and cope with affective or stressful problems (e.g., Kobak & Sceery, 1988). If individuals have caregivers who are consistent in their emotional availability, they are likely to develop attachment security and can effectively cope with negative events that arise in their life (e.g., seek support from a friend). If individuals do not have caregivers who are emotionally available, individuals are likely to develop attachment insecurity and subsequently be less able to cope with stressful events in their lives (e.g., withdraw from others).Brennan, Clark, and Shaver (1998) recently indicated that adult attachments could be described in terms of two orthogonal dimensions: attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance. Adult attachment anxiety is defined as the fear of rejection and abandonment. Adult attachment avoidance is characterized as the fear of intimacy and discomfort with closeness and dependence. In the attachment literature, it is well documented that the presence of these attachment dimensions are positively linked to indices of psychological distress such as depression and anxiety (e.g.,

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

“…Brennan et al (1998) also reported that the ECRS was positively correlated with similar theoretical constructs, such as touch and postcoital emotions. Likewise, Wei et al (2005) found positive correlations between attachment anxiety and emotional reactivity and between attachment avoidance and emotional cutoff. reported test-retest reliabilities of .68 and .71 over a 6-month interval for the attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance scales, respectively.…”

“…A review of the empirical studies on attachment and coping strategies reveals that some research has supported the theory that individuals with high levels of attachment anxiety and/or avoidance use distinct strategies. For example, Wei et al (2005) found that attachment anxiety contributed to negative mood (i.e., depression and anxiety) through emotional reactivity (but not emotional cutoff); by contrast, attachment avoidance contributed to negative mood through emotional cutoff (but not emotional reactivity). Other studies have not shown that individuals with high levels of attachment anxiety use distinct coping strategies in contrast with individuals with high levels of attachment avoidance.…”

“…For example, Wei et al (2005) found that emotional reactivity (a hyperactivation strategy) was a mediator in the relation among attachment anxiety, negative mood, and interpersonal problems, whereas emotional cutoff (a deactivation strategy) was a mediator in the relation among attachment avoidance, negative mood, and interpersonal problems. Instead of examining a general indicator of psychological adjustment, future researchers should consider evaluating more specific indicators of psychological problems.…”

“…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.…”

Apego Adulto y Mentalización en Hombres que Han Ejercido Violencia Hacia su Pareja

“…La evidencia de validez de constructo de la ERC está basada en estudios que muestran que es un predictor significativo de constructos teóricamente relevantes, tales como la satisfacción marital (Brennan et al, 1998) y la presencia de problemas interpersonales (Wei, Vogel, Ku & Zakalik, 2005). De acuerdo con el análisis de validez del instrumento en Chile, Spencer, Guzmán, Fresno y Ramos (2013) afirman que el análisis de validez de constructo indica que en términos generales los puntajes de las escalas de la versión chilena de la ERC se relacionan de la manera esperada con el cuestionario de apego adulto CaMir (Garrido, Santelices, Pierrehumbert & Armijo, 2009).…”