scholarly journals Partners’ Relationship Mindfulness Promotes Better Daily Relationship Behaviours for Insecurely Attached Individuals

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (19) ◽  
pp. 7267
Author(s):  
Taranah Gazder ◽  
Sarah C. E. Stanton
Keyword(s):  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Attachment Anxiety ◽  
Insecure Attachment ◽  
Attachment Avoidance ◽  
Daily Experience ◽  
Security Enhancement ◽  
Relationship Processes ◽  
A Current ◽  
Over Time

Attachment anxiety and avoidance are generally associated with detrimental relationship processes, including more negative and fewer positive relationship behaviours. However, recent theoretical and empirical evidence has shown that positive factors can buffer insecure attachment. We hypothesised that relationship mindfulness (RM)—open or receptive attention to and awareness of what is taking place internally and externally in a current relationship—may promote better day-to-day behaviour for both anxious and avoidant individuals, as mindfulness improves awareness of automatic responses, emotion regulation, and empathy. In a dyadic daily experience study, we found that, while an individual’s own daily RM did not buffer the effects of their own insecure attachment on same-day relationship behaviours, their partner’s daily RM did, particularly for attachment avoidance. Our findings for next-day relationship behaviours, on the other hand, showed that lower (vs. higher) prior-day RM was associated with higher positive partner behaviours on the following day for avoidant individuals and those with anxious partners, showing this may be an attempt to “make up” for the previous day. These findings support the Attachment Security Enhancement Model and have implications for examining different forms of mindfulness over time and for mindfulness training.

scholarly journals Revising Working Models Across Time: Relationship Situations That Enhance Attachment Security

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ximena B. Arriaga ◽  
Madoka Kumashiro ◽  
Jeffry A. Simpson ◽  
Nickola C. Overall
Keyword(s):  
Romantic Relationships ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Attachment Anxiety ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Attachment Avoidance ◽  
Positive Dependence ◽  
Security Enhancement ◽  
Working Models ◽  
Practical Implications

We propose the Attachment Security Enhancement Model (ASEM) to suggest how romantic relationships can promote chronic attachment security. One part of the ASEM examines partner responses that protect relationships from the erosive effects of immediate insecurity, but such responses may not necessarily address underlying insecurities in a person’s mental models. Therefore, a second part of the ASEM examines relationship situations that foster more secure mental models. Both parts may work in tandem. We posit that attachment anxiety should decline most in situations that foster greater personal confidence and more secure mental models of the self. In contrast, attachment avoidance should decline most in situations that involve positive dependence and foster more secure models of close others. The ASEM integrates research and theory, suggests novel directions for future research, and has practical implications, all of which center on the idea that adult attachment orientations are an emergent property of close relationships.

scholarly journals Fostering Attachment Security: The Role of Interdependent Situations

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (20) ◽  
pp. 7648
Author(s):  
Francesca Righetti ◽  
Daniel Balliet ◽  
Catherine Molho ◽  
Simon Columbus ◽  
Ruddy Faure ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Attachment Security ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Experience Sampling ◽  
Attachment Avoidance ◽  
Interdependence Theory ◽  
The Asymmetry ◽  
Future Outcomes ◽  
Theory Framework ◽  
Over Time

This work adopts an Interdependence Theory framework to investigate how the features of interdependent situations that couples face in their daily life (i.e., situations in which partners influence each other’s outcomes) shape attachment security toward their current partners. An experience sampling study examined attachment tendencies and features of interdependent situations that people experience with their partner in daily life to predict satisfaction and trust in their relationship, and changes in attachment avoidance and anxiety toward their partner over time. Results revealed that encountering situations with corresponding outcomes (i.e., situations in which both partners have the same preferences) and with information certainty (i.e., situations in which there is clear knowledge of each partner’s preferences) assuage people’s insecurity. On the contrary, situations of mutual current and future interdependence (i.e., situations in which each person’s current or future outcomes are dependent on their partner’s behavior) undermined security for anxiously attached individuals. Power (i.e., the asymmetry in partners’ dependence) was not related to attachment security. This work underscores the importance of studying the role of the situations that partners experience in their daily life and the way they are related to relationship feelings and cognitions.

Security-Based Differences in Touch Behavior and Its Relational Benefits

2020 ◽  
pp. 194855062092916
Author(s):  
Cheryl L. Carmichael ◽  
Matthew H. Goldberg ◽  
Maureen A. Coyle
Keyword(s):  
Attachment Security ◽  
Attachment Anxiety ◽  
Attachment Avoidance ◽  
Relational Benefits ◽  
Positive Feelings ◽  
Negative Feelings

Affectionate touch is crucial to the development of attachment security in infancy, yet little is known about how attachment and touch are related in adulthood. For adults high in anxiety, touch provision can maintain proximity, and received touch can signal reassurance of a partner’s affections that relatively anxious people desperately desire. Adults high in avoidance likely view touch as a threat to independence, should be less inclined to provide touch, and may perceive received touch as intrusive. In two studies, we demonstrated that attachment anxiety was associated with positive feelings about touch but unrelated to daily touch provision. However, the benefits associated with daily received touch were amplified among people higher in anxiety. Conversely, attachment avoidance was associated with negative feelings about touch, and reductions in daily touch provision, but did not moderate the benefits associated with received touch.

Relationship processes and symptom burden in couples coping with metastatic lung cancer.

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (34_suppl) ◽  
pp. 169-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathrin Milbury ◽  
Chanyi Yang ◽  
Zhongxing X. Liao ◽  
Anne S. Tsao ◽  
Eduardo Bruera
Keyword(s):  
Attachment Style ◽  
Symptom Burden ◽  
Psychosocial Interventions ◽  
Attachment Anxiety ◽  
Insecure Attachment ◽  
Attachment Avoidance ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Emotional Closeness ◽  
Cancer Symptoms ◽  
Relationship Length

169 Background: Attachment style is a complex behavioral control system rooted in neurophysiological processes which guides a person’s ability to elicit and respond to emotional closeness in an intimate relationship. Patients with high attachment anxiety and/or avoidance may engage in interpersonal behaviors that exacerbate their stress response and perhaps symptom burden. We hypothesized that, while patients’ insecure attachment is associated with increased symptom burden, partners’ positive relationship behaviors may protect against this association. Methods: Patients with metastatic NSCLC and their partners completed cross-sectional surveys assessing attachment (ECR) and emotional closeness during cancer-related discusssions (PAIR). Patients completed the MDASI to measure cancer-related symptoms. We used multi-level modeling for the dyadic analyses. Results: 54 patients (51% female; 80% White; µ age = 65 yrs) and their partners (51% female; 68% White; µ age = 64 years; µ relationship length = 27 years) participated. Patients with high attachment avoidance reported significantly higher cancer symptoms compared to those with secure attachment (MDASI µ’s: 2.14 vs .21, respectively; P<.05). Cancer symptoms were also significantly higher for patients whose partners reported low compared to high closeness during cancer-related discussions (MDASI µ’s: 1.08 vs .42, respectively; P<.05). In fact, there was a significant interaction between partners’ perceptions of closeness and patients’ attachment avoidance (P<.01) so that only patients with high avoidance reported significantly greater symptom burden if their partners reported low closeness (high avoidance and low closeness: MDASI µ = 2.73; high avoidance and high closeness: MDASI µ = 1.32). Conclusions: Patients’ attachment avoidance is significantly associated with their symptom burden. Partners who are able to maintain closeness during cancer-related discussions may protect patients with high attachment avoidance from experiencing increased symptom burden. Teaching partners of patients with insecure attachment to stay emotionally connected during cancer-related discussions may be an important target for psychosocial interventions.

scholarly journals Self-Efficacy and Declines Over Time in Attachment Anxiety During the Transition to Parenthood

2020 ◽  
pp. 194855062093341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ximena B. Arriaga ◽  
Jami Eller ◽  
Madoka Kumashiro ◽  
W. Steven Rholes ◽  
Jeffry A. Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Transition To Parenthood ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Attachment Anxiety ◽  
Important Distinction ◽  
Security Enhancement ◽  
Parenting Role ◽  
Longitudinal Associations ◽  
First Time ◽  
New Framework

Attachment anxiety can decline in relationships but little is known about how or why. A new framework—the Attachment Security Enhancement Model (ASEM)—suggests that what allays current (momentary) insecurity may not necessarily reduce attachment anxiety across time. This article differentiates momentary versus extended attachment processes by examining concurrent versus longitudinal associations. Cohabitating partners ( N = 137 couples) were examined over a 2-year period as they became first-time parents, a transition that could change attachment tendencies. Consistent with ASEM predictions: (1) Anxiously attached spouses who perceived more proximal and sensitive reassurance from their partners felt less concurrent attachment anxiety but not less anxiety across time, and (2) attachment anxiety declined across time when spouses derived personal competence and self-efficacy from their new parenting role. These results document an important distinction between mitigating insecure thoughts and feelings that might reinforce attachment anxiety, versus encountering new experiences that may actually revise chronic insecurity.

The Differential Effects of Insecure Attachment on Post-Traumatic Stress: A Systematic Review of Extant Findings and Explanatory Mechanisms

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1044-1060 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ban Hong Lim ◽  
Mikhaella A. Hodges ◽  
Michelle M. Lilly
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Attachment Anxiety ◽  
Insecure Attachment ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Attachment Avoidance ◽  
Trauma Outcomes ◽  
Extreme Stress ◽  
Post Traumatic

It is well-documented that insecure attachment poses substantial risks to post-trauma recovery. Although attachment anxiety reliably predicts and is associated with elevated post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), the attachment avoidance–PTSS link has been far less consistent. This suggests both attenuating and enhancing connections between attachment difficulties and post-trauma outcomes. The goal of this study is 2-fold: (a) to review and summarize extant evidence concerning the relation between insecure attachment and PTSS and (b) to review mechanism(s) underlying attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance that may explain the development of PTSS. Following a systematic review of the empirical literature investigating attachment, trauma, and post-trauma reactions, a total of 138 studies were identified and summarized. The review further identifies explanatory mechanisms underlying the association between insecure attachment and PTSS, including stress appraisals, cognitive factors, self-esteem, emotion regulation strategies, social factors, and trauma-specific factors (i.e., type of trauma, extreme stress). Implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed.

scholarly journals Mind the Gap: Perceived Partner Responsiveness as a Bridge between General and Partner-Specific Attachment Security

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (19) ◽  
pp. 7178
Author(s):  
TeKisha M. Rice ◽  
Madoka Kumashiro ◽  
Ximena B. Arriaga
Keyword(s):  
Romantic Relationships ◽  
Attachment Theory ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Attachment Anxiety ◽  
Secure Attachment ◽  
Specific Attachment ◽  
Perceived Partner Responsiveness ◽  
Core Idea ◽  
Partner Responsiveness ◽  
A Current

A core idea of attachment theory is that security develops when attachment figures are responsive to a person’s connection needs. Individuals may be more or less secure in different relationships. We hypothesized that individuals who perceive a current relationship partner as being responsive to their needs will feel more secure in that specific relationship, and that the benefits of perceived partner responsiveness would be more pronounced for individuals who generally feel insecure. The current study included 472 individuals (236 couples) in romantic relationships. Consistent with our predictions, individuals who perceived more responsiveness from their partner displayed lower partner-specific attachment anxiety and partner-specific avoidance, especially when they were generally insecure. These findings are discussed in terms of the conditions that promote secure attachment bonds.

scholarly journals Childhood Emotional Maltreatment and Romantic Relationships: The Role of Compassionate Goals

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lining Sun ◽  
Amy Canevello ◽  
Kathrine A. Lewis ◽  
Jiqiang Li ◽  
Jennifer Crocker
Keyword(s):  
Romantic Relationships ◽  
Relationship Quality ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Emotional Maltreatment ◽  
Compassionate Goals ◽  
Relationship Processes ◽  
Over Time

Past research indicates that childhood emotional maltreatment (CEM) undermines the quality of adult romantic relationships by fostering negative characteristics in survivors. Two longitudinal studies investigated the hypothesis that decreased compassionate goals toward partners over time explain the association between CEM and declining relationship quality. In Study 1, CEM predicted decreased compassionate goals over time, which in turn predicted decreased relationship quality in individuals in romantic relationships. Study 2 replicated this effect in romantically involved couples and showed that partners’ high compassionate goals attenuated the decline in compassionate goals associated with reported CEM. These results point to the importance of examining how CEM may affect positive relationship processes and the protective roles of partners’ compassionate goals.

Relationships Between Adult Attachment Dimensions and Patient-Physician Relationship Quality

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lachlan A. McWilliams
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Quality ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Family Physicians ◽  
Attachment Anxiety ◽  
Insecure Attachment ◽  
Secure Attachment ◽  
Attachment Avoidance ◽  
Communication Difficulties ◽  
Physician Relationship ◽  
Attachment Dimensions

AbstractPositive associations between attachment insecurity and indicators of poorer patient-physician relationship quality have been found in samples of patients consulting with physicians for a variety of specific medical conditions or needs. The current study was the first to investigate associations between adult attachment characteristics and relationship quality with family physicians. University students (N = 239) completed measures assessing attachment and their relationships with their family physician. Attachment avoidance was associated with poor affective relationship quality and with greater communication difficulties. Attachment anxiety was associated with greater communication difficulties, but was unrelated to affective relationship quality. Those with insecure attachment, particularly those with high levels of avoidance, have poorer relationships with their family physicians than those with more secure attachment.

Psychological Intimate Partner Violence, Insecure Attachment, and Parental Psychological Control from Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood

2020 ◽  
pp. 088626052095797
Author(s):  
So Young Choe ◽  
Jungeun Olivia Lee ◽  
Stephen J. Read
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Emerging Adulthood ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Psychological Control ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Attachment Anxiety ◽  
Insecure Attachment ◽  
Attachment Avoidance ◽  
Parental Psychological Control

We examine if psychological intimate partner violence (pIPV) is predicted by parental psychological control (PPC) via insecure attachment. Our results analyzing longitudinal data from the Child Development Project show that PPC perceived at age 16 predicts insecure attachment at age 18, which then predicts pIPV at age 24. Moreover, the paths with attachment anxiety are consistently significant while ones with attachment avoidance are not. Further, all the paths are significant regardless of the gender of the adolescents and parents, which indicates that PPC is detrimental regardless of the gender of the adolescents or parents. Lastly, PPC perceived at age 16 does not directly predict pIPV at age 24, which suggests that social learning theory of aggression ( Bandura, 1978 ) may not explain the association from PPC to pIPV. Our results suggest that research and practice would benefit by considering PPC as an antecedent of pIPV via insecure attachment from adolescence to emerging adulthood.

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