Insecurity, stress, and symptoms of psychopathology: contrasting results from self-reports versus interviews of adult attachment

Abstract

This report was designed to clarify links among self-reports of psychiatric symptomatology, stress, and adult attachment insecurity, as operationalized using measures drawn from both the developmental and social psychological literatures. Based on a sample of 160 college students, this study demonstrated that insecurity reflected in the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) was associated with self-reports of psychiatric symptomatology principally for individuals experiencing high levels of life stress (consistent with a diathesis-stress model) whereas self-reports of attachment-related avoidance and anxiety correlated robustly with psychopathology under conditions of both relatively high and low life stress (consistent with a risk model). Results provide further evidence that social psychological and developmental approaches to the assessment of adult attachment-related variation are associated with domains of adaptation central to Bowlby's account of human development in empirically distinct ways.

Affect dysregulation, psychoform dissociation, and adult relational fears mediate the relationship between childhood trauma and complex posttraumatic stress disorder independent of the symptoms of borderline personality disorder

“…Van Dijke & Ford, 2015), which were assessed using the Dutch version of the validated 30-item Relationship Style Questionnaire (RSQ; Griffin & Bartholomew, 1994; Van Dijke, 2002). Dimensional scores (Fortuna & Roisman, 2008) were calculated for fear of abandonment (attachment-related anxiety; Cronbach’s alpha = .74) and fear of closeness (attachment-related avoidance; Cronbach’s alpha = .72).…”

“…Attachment-related avoidance and anxiety were selected to represent adult relational impairment rather than the childhood-based categories of insecure attachment because they were shown to be trait-like risk factors for self-reported psychiatric symptoms (i.e. correlated with psychopathology under conditions of both high and low stress), while the insecure attachment categories were associated with psychopathology in adults only under high stress conditions (Fortuna & Roisman, 2008). …”

Profiles of Irish survivors of institutional abuse with different adult attachment styles

“…Studies of adults' have shown that both the coherence of adults' narratives about their early attachment experiences (as assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview (Hesse, 2008;Main, Hesse, & Goldwyn, 2008), and adult attachment styles in romantic relationships (as assessed by self-report questionnaires (Brennan, Clark & Shaver, 1998)), are associated with non-optimal child-rearing experiences and psychopathology (e.g., Agrawal, Gunderson et al, 2004;Dozier, Stovall, & Albus, 1999;Fonagy, Leigh et al, 1996;Fortuna & Roisman, 2008;Fossati, Feeney et al, 2003;Meyer, Pilkonis et al, 2001;Muller, Lemieux & Sicoli, 2001;Riggs, Paulson et al, 2007;Schindler, Rainer et al, 2005;Ward, Lee & Polan, 2006). In contrast, secure attachment in childhood and adulthood is typically associated with a history of involvement in supportive and sensitive care giving relationships (Cairns, 2002;Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007).…”

Healthy maternal bonding as a resilience factor for depressive disorder.

“…Ward, Lee, and Pola (2006) found statistically significant positive correlations between psychopathology and dysfunctional parental attachment. Fortuna and Roisman (2008) also found positive associations between parental neglect and symptoms of depression in adulthood. Stansfeld, Head, Bartley, andFonagy (2008) retrospectively evaluated 7,279 subjects and found that a high level of parental warmth was highly correlated with decreased risk of insecure attachment styles associated with the development of psychiatric disorders in adulthood, mainly DDs.…”