Couple emotional experience: effects of attachment anxiety in low and high structure couple interactions

Abstract

This study used data from 63 heterosexual couples to investigate the effects of attachment anxiety and how they relate to emotional experience (i.e. psychophysiological distress and feelings towards a partner) in the context of two therapy‐like conditions (low and high structure). We examined both the effect of an individual's anxiety on his/her own emotional experience (actor effects) and on the partner's experience (partner effects). During both interactional conditions, female partners of men higher in attachment anxiety experienced greater psychophysiological distress. In addition, men and women higher in attachment anxiety were not significantly different from others in terms of their feelings towards their partner during the low structure condition. However, their feelings were significantly more positive than others during the high structure condition, providing some evidence that attachment‐based interventions can be especially useful for clients higher in attachment anxiety. Practitioner points Not only should therapists take into account couple distress and volatility when facilitating couple interaction, but they should also account for self‐reported attachment Clients high in attachment anxiety may benefit from the emotional containment provided by having a therapist buffer the couple interaction Clients high in attachment anxiety may especially benefit from therapy process that is anchored in facilitating attachment‐based expression

The Systemic Interaction of Attachment on Psychophysiological Arousal in Couple Conflict

“…Consistent with previous studies using skin conductance, there were no statistically significant actor effects between attachment anxiety and psychophysiological arousal, despite emotional arousal being a common manifestation of attachment anxiety (Mikulincer & Shaver, ). Previous studies using skin conductance have reported partner effects, where female partners of men with high levels of attachment anxiety had higher levels of psychophysiological arousal during positive and conflict interactions (Seedall & Lachmar, ; Seedall & Wampler, ). This finding was only replicated in the final third of the conflict discussion, although the partner effects were nearing significance in other segments of conflict and recovery.…”

“…Seedall and Wampler () hypothesized that the fears of abandonment and relationship worry that typically accompany attachment anxiety may be more general and not fully activated during couple conflict. In other words, those high in attachment anxiety may be able to focus on some interactional tasks without it activating their relationship fears or worry.…”

“…Second, we explored the relationship between attachment anxiety and skin conductance levels during conflict and its recovery. Previous studies involving skin conductance (Seedall & Lachmar, ; Seedall & Wampler, ) have identified partner effects of anxiety (i.e., that a partner's anxiety contributes to the other's outcome), but no actor effects (i.e., that a person's anxiety contributes to his/her own outcome). We sought to replicate these findings.…”

“…As such, it would seem that an indicator of emotional arousal like skin conductance would be able to detect this potential emotional dysregulation in those higher in attachment anxiety, especially since this has been the case with other psychophysiological measures of arousal (e.g., cortisol; Brooks, Robles, & Schetter, 2011;Powers et al, 2006). Seedall and Wampler (2016) hypothesized that the fears of abandonment and relationship worry that typically accompany attachment anxiety may be more general and not fully activated during couple conflict. In other words, those high in attachment anxiety may be able to focus on some interactional tasks without it activating their relationship fears or worry.…”

“…Regardless, this lack of a significant statistical finding in the midst of strong conceptual evidence suggests the need for additional research. Seedall and Wampler (2016) have been the one exception in finding a link between attachment anxiety and skin conductance. They found a partner effect, where women whose male partners were higher in attachment anxiety were more likely to exhibit psychophysiological distress during several different types of couple conversations.…”