Insecure attachment and personality disorder: a twin study of adults

Abstract

This study used 239 twin pairs from a volunteer community sample to investigate how anxious and avoidant attachment are related to personality disorder (PD). Factor analysis showed that self-reported anxious attachment and 11 PD scales from the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Problems loaded onto one factor (emotional dysregulation), and avoidant attachment and four PD scales loaded onto a second factor (inhibitedness). Biometric models indicated that 40% of the variance in anxious attachment was heritable, and 63% of its association with corresponding PD dimensions was attributable to common genetic effects. Avoidant attachment was influenced by the shared environment instead of genes. Correlations between avoidance and corresponding PD dimensions were attributable to experiences in the nonshared environment that influenced both variables.

Personality and Attachment to Friends

“…Their study reveals a shared genetic basis underlying the associations of attachment anxiety and avoidance with neuroticism and extraversion, indicating that biologically based personality traits could influence the person-environment interactions and thus mediate the development of internal working models of attachment in adulthood. Crawford et al (2007) offer a similar conclusion, suggesting that neuroticism provides an underlying genetic basis for the observed relationship between attachment anxiety and emotional dysregulation found in their study. While further research is needed to shed light on the origins of personality-attachment relations and the possible contribution of genetic and environmental factors, the degree of overlap found in our study lends support to the conclusion that adult attachment style in close relations could not be reduced to variability in core personality domains.…”

“…Theoretical background provided by the attachment theory underlines the crucial role of environmental influences in the formation of adult attachment style, where environment operates through early attachment experiences a child has with the primary caregiver and thus shapes the development of personality (Thompson, 1999(Thompson, , 2000. However, recent behavioral genetic studies point to the substantial genetic influences in the development of adult attachment, suggesting that attachment anxiety is shaped by both environmental and genetic factors, while the genetic influence in attachment avoidance still remains inconclusive (Crawford et al, 2007;Gillath et al, 2008). Furthermore, the observed relations between personality and attachment could be partly attributed to the common genetic influences, as suggested by Donnellan et al (2008).…”

Apego adulto en agresores de pareja = Adult attachment in partner-violent men

“…Así, hay diversas teorías que apoyan el componente neurobiológico y genético del constructo (ver Crawford et al, 2007;Donnellan, Burt, Levendosky y Klump, 2008;Dutton, 2011;Gillath, Shaver, Baeky Chun, 2008).…”

Lien entre troubles de personnalité, troubles de l’attachement et comportements violents : synthèse des écrits

“…Plus précisément, le style d'attachement craintif est significativement lié avec le passage à l'acte violent dans un couple (Brassard et Lussier, 2009). Ces personnes vivent une double problématique ; en effet, il s'agit d'individus inconfortables dans les relations intimes, qui tentent de tenir leur partenaire à distance, mais qui ont également un grand besoin de se faire rassurer (Mikulincer et Shaver, 2007). Il y a lieu de se demander si cette relation est aussi présente chez les individus qui posent des gestes violents dans un contexte hors conjugal.…”

“…Certains troubles de la personnalité sont généralement liés à un style d'attachement : les personnalités du groupe A (schizoïde, schizotypique et paranoïaque) sont associées au type d'attachement évitant tandis que les personnalités du groupe B (antisociale, histrionique, borderline et narcissique) et celles du groupe C (évitante, dépendante et obsessionnelle) sont associées au type d'attachement anxieux (Bartholomew et al, 2001 ;Bender et al, 2001 ;Crawford et al, 2007 ;Gunderson, 1996 ;Levy et Orlans, 2004 ;Magnavita, 2004 ;Mauricio et al, 2007 ;Sable, 1997 ;Scott et al, 2009 ;Timmerman et Emmelkamp, 2006). La personnalité borderline se caractérise par une instabilité affective, relationnelle et de l'image de soi en plus d'une impulsivité marquée (APA, 2000 ;Oldham, 1991).…”