An Attachment Theoretical Perspective on Tend-and-Befriend Stress Reactions

Levy, Kenneth N.; Hlay, Jessica K.; Johnson, Ben; Witmer, Courtney P.

doi:10.1007/s40806-019-00197-x

Cited by 9 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Our results align with a prior study of adults ( N = 3042) recruited via online crowd-sourcing, where concerns about a family member getting the virus and unknowingly spreading the virus were similarly ranked as the top two concerns [ 54 ]. These findings are also consistent with prior evidence of increases in prosocial and “tend-and-befriend” responses during times of stress, thought to reflect an innate human tendency to protect those closest to them and seek out their social group when threatened [ 64 , 65 ], which appears to be especially the case among females and female caregivers [ 54 , 66 ], as was the case for the vast majority of parents in our sample.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children’s Conduct Problems and Callous-Unemotional Traits

Waller

Powell

Rodriguez

et al. 2021

Child Psychiatry Hum Dev

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children’s Conduct Problems and Callous-Unemotional Traits

Waller

Powell

Rodriguez

et al. 2021

Child Psychiatry Hum Dev

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“…However, when looking within sex, both men and women will report tend/befriend responses more than fight-or-flight responses.There is a significant association between attachment security and tend/befriend, fight, and flight behaviors, such that attachment security is positively associated with tend-and-befriend behaviors and attachment insecurity is negatively associated with fight-or-flight behaviors.Attachment orientation is a significant moderator of the relationship between sex and stress response, such that attachment security will attenuate the influence of sex on stress response. Additionally, we hypothesize that the significant moderation found by Levy et al (2019), that attachment avoidance contributed to increased use of fight responses among women, but not men, will not be replicated.…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Of particular importance, Levy and colleagues (2019) found that attachment orientation may predict stress response style. Attachment theory aims to explain behaviors in close relationships across the life span (Bowlby, 1969) by positing that “internal working models” of self and others guide the way individuals rely on close others in times of stress.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although Levy and colleagues (2019) findings are important, the use of a relatively small student sample limits the generalizability of their findings. In the current study, we aim to directly replicate this study with two samples to generalize the findings: a much larger and more contemporary university sample and a global online sample.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, based on Levy and colleagues (2019) hypotheses and findings, we predict that: There is a sex difference in stress responses, such that women use the tend-and-befriend strategy more than men. However, when looking within sex, both men and women will report tend/befriend responses more than fight-or-flight responses.There is a significant association between attachment security and tend/befriend, fight, and flight behaviors, such that attachment security is positively associated with tend-and-befriend behaviors and attachment insecurity is negatively associated with fight-or-flight behaviors.Attachment orientation is a significant moderator of the relationship between sex and stress response, such that attachment security will attenuate the influence of sex on stress response.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Attachment security predicts tend-and-befriend behaviors: A replication.

Hlay¹,

Johnson²,

Levy³

2023

Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences

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In 2000, Taylor and colleagues proposed the “tend-and-befriend” hypothesis, which posits that women utilize an alternative stress response to fight-or-flight, promoting the survival of themselves and their offspring (tend) through the formation of groups (befriend). Although there has been support for this hypothesis since, Levy and colleagues (2019) demonstrated that while sexes may differentially use tend-and-befriend behaviors, attachment orientation is a more robust predictor of these behaviors. In the current investigation, we aim to replicate Levy et al. (2019) using the same methodology with 2 unique samples: a university sample (N = 557) and an online global community sample (N = 300). Results support previous findings, such that across groups attachment anxiety positively predicts all 3 stress responses, and attachment avoidance negatively predicts tend/befriend responses, all independent of sex. We also found that, after accounting for general stress reactivity, tend-and-befriend response was associated with greater attachment security, unlike fight-or-flight responses. There were no consistent sex differences across the samples until after accounting for general stress reactivity, at which point women endorsed more flight response and men more fight response; however, women and men both endorsed being most likely to engage in tend/befriend behaviors during stress than other responses. Our findings, in addition to Levy et al. (2019), suggest that while sex differences in self-reported tend-and-befriend behaviors may exist, exploration within sex (an important oversight of previous research) indicates a different pattern of results. We found evidence that attachment orientation is a robust predictor of all forms of stress response, even after accounting for sex, indicating the importance of attachment behavior in stress responsivity and largely replicating previous results of Levy et al. (2019).

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The Tend and Befriend Theory of Stress: Understanding the Biological, Evolutionary, and Psychosocial Aspects of the Female Stress Response

Cohen

Lansing

2021

Biopsychosocial Factors of Stress, and Mindfulness for Stress Reduction

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An Attachment Theoretical Perspective on Tend-and-Befriend Stress Reactions

Cited by 9 publications

References 71 publications

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children’s Conduct Problems and Callous-Unemotional Traits

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children’s Conduct Problems and Callous-Unemotional Traits

Attachment security predicts tend-and-befriend behaviors: A replication.

The Tend and Befriend Theory of Stress: Understanding the Biological, Evolutionary, and Psychosocial Aspects of the Female Stress Response

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