Associations between Attachment and Emotion-Specific Emotion Regulation with and without Relationship Insecurity Priming

Abstract

Attachment theory and previous research on emotion regulation (ER) suggest that ER will be associated with adult attachment orientation, with the expectation of different associations of attachment avoidance, anxiety, and security with specific ER patterns. In addition, research has shown that the emotion under consideration and the context may matter to patterns of ER and associations between attachment and ER. In the present study, we examined associations between attachment representations, and emotion specific (sadness, worry, and anger) ER among late adolescents and young adults aged 16 to 23 years (M = 19.6, SD = 1.58). In addition, to consider context, participants were randomly assigned to report ER following insecurity priming or no priming. Participants were 383 (181 male, 202 female) students who completed a self-report questionnaire. As expected, multivariate regression results examining all attachment orientations simultaneously showed that attachment anxiety was associated with greater dysregulation (sadness, worry, and anger), but also more anger suppression. In contrast, attachment avoidance was associated with greater suppression (sadness and worry), but also more anger dysregulation. Attachment security was associated with less dysregulation (sadness, worry, and anger), and less sadness and worry suppression. Finally, sadness and anger dysregulation were higher when reported after insecurity priming compared to the standard no prime condition, but few associations between attachment orientations and ER were moderated by condition. The results suggest that individuals’ attachment representations are associated with ER, with security a benefit to adaptive ER, and anxiety and avoidance playing different roles in maladaptive ER for different emotions.

Keywords

attachment emotion regulation interpersonal stress priming effects specific emotions

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ainsworth

M. D. S.

(1989). Attachments beyond infancy. American Psychologist, 44, 709–716. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.44.4.709

Amir

Horesh

Lin-Stein

(1999). Infertility and adjustment in women: The effects of attachment style and social support. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 6, 463–479. doi:10.1023/A:1026280017092

Bartholomew

Horowitz

C. M.

(1991). Attachment styles among young adults: A test of a four category model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 226–244. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.61.2.226

Besser

Priel

(2009). Emotional responses to a romantic partner’s imaginary rejection: The roles of attachment anxiety, covert narcissism, and self-evaluation. Journal of Personality, 77, 287–325. doi:10.111/j.1467-6494.2008.00546.x

Bowlby

(1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. London, UK: Hogarth P.

Bowlby

(1973). Attachment and loss: Vol. 2. Separation: Anxiety and anger. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Bowlby

(1980). Attachment and loss: Vol. 3. Sadness and depression. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Brenning

K. M.

Braet

(2013). The emotion regulation model of attachment: An emotion specific approach. Personal Relationships, 20, 107–123. doi:10.111/j.1475-6811.2012.01399.x

Brumariu

L. E.

(2015). Parent–child attachment and emotion regulation. In Bosmans

Kerns

K. A.

(Eds.), Attachment in middle childhood: Theoretical advances and new directions in an emerging field. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 148 (pp. 31–45). Wiley Periodicals, Inc. doi:10.1002/cad.20098

10.

Brumariu

L. E.

Kerns

K. A.

Seibert

(2012). Mother-child attachment, emotion regulation, and anxiety symptoms in middle childhood. Personal Relationships, 19, 569–585. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.2011.01379.x

11.

Campbell

Marshal

(2011). Anxious attachment and relationship processes: An interactionist perspective. Journal of Personality, 79, 1219–1249. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2011.00723.x

12.

Campos

J. J.

Mumme

D. L.

Kermoian

Campos

R. G.

(1994). A functionalist perspective on the nature of emotion. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59, 284–303. doi:10.2307/1166150

13.

Carver

C. S.

Harmon-Jones

(2009). Anger is an approach-related affect: Evidence and implications. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 183–204. doi:10.1037/a0013965

14.

Cassidy

(1994). Emotion regulation: Influences of attachment relationships. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59, 228–249. doi:10.2307/1166148

15.

Cassidy

Shaver

P. R.

Mikulincer

Lavy

(2009). Experimentally induced security influences responses to psychological pain. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 28, 463–478. doi:10.1521/jscp.2009.28.4.463

16.

Charles

S. T.

Carstensen

L. L.

(2008). Unpleasant situations elicit different emotional responses in younger and older adults. Psychology and Aging, 23, 495–504. doi:10.1037/a0013284

17.

Cooper

M. L.

Shaver

P. R.

Collins

N. L.

(1998). Attachment styles, emotion regulation, and adjustment in adolescence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1380–1397. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.74.5.1380

18.

DeOliveira

C. A.

Bailey

H. N.

Moran

Pederson

D. R.

(2004). Emotion socialization as a framework for understanding the development of disorganized attachment. Social Development, 13, 437–467. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9507.2004.00276.x

19.

Dewitte

De Houwer

Goubert

Buysse

(2010). A multi-modal approach to the study of attachment-related distress. Biological Psychology, 85, 149–162. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.06.006

20.

Fraley

R. C.

Davis

K. E.

(1997). Attachment formation and transfer in young adults’ close friendships and romantic relationships. Personal Relationships, 4, 131–144. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.1997.tb00135.x

21.

Holmberg

Lomore

C. D.

Takacs

T. A.

Price

E. L.

(2011). Adult attachment styles and stressor severity as moderators of the coping sequence. Personal Relationships, 18, 502–517. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.2010.01318.x

22.

Izard

C. E.

(1990). Facial expressions and the regulation of emotions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 487–498. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.58.3.487

23.

Izard

C. E.

(1991). The psychology of emotions. New York, NY: Plenum.

24.

Kobak

Cassidy

Lyons-Ruth

Ziv

(2006). Attachment, stress, and psychopathology: A developmental pathways model. In Cicchetti

Cohen

D. J.

(Eds.), Developmental psychopathology (pp. 333–369). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

25.

Kopp

C. B.

(1989). Regulation of negative emotions: A developmental view. Developmental Psychology, 25, 343–354. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.25.3.343

26.

Leary

M. R.

Koch

E. J.

HechenBleikner

N. R.

(2001). Emotional responses to interpersonal rejection. In Leary

(Eds.), Interpersonal rejection (pp. 145–166). Cary, NC: Oxford University Press.

27.

Lopez

F. G.

Gormley

(2002). Stability and change in adult attachment style over the first-year college transition: Relations to self-confidence, coping, and distress patterns. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 49, 355–364. doi:10.1037//0022-0167.49.3.355

28.

Main

(1996). Introduction to the special section on attachment and psychopathology: 2. Overview of the field of attachment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 237–243. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.64.2.237

29.

Main

(2000). Attachment theory. In Kazdin

A. E.

(Ed.), Encyclopedia of Psychology, Vol 1 (pp. 289–293). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

30.

Mikulincer

(1998). Adult attachment style and individual differences in functional versus dysfunctional experiences of anger. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 513–524. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.74.2.513

31.

Mikulincer

Shaver

P. R.

(2007). Attachment in adulthood: Structure, dynamics, and change. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

32.

Mikulincer

Shaver

P. R.

Pereg

(2003). Attachment theory and affect regulation: The dynamics, development, and cognitive consequences of attachment-related strategies. Motivation and Emotion, 27, 77–102. doi:10.1023/A:1024515519160

33.

Roque

Veríssimo

Fernandes

Rebelo

(2013). Emotion regulation and attachment: Relationships with children’s secure base, during different situational and social contexts in naturalistic settings. Infant Behaviour and Development, 36, 298–306. doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2013.03.003

34.

Roth

Assor

Niemiec

C. P.

Ryan

R. M.

Deci

E. L.

(2009). The emotional and academic consequences of parental conditional regard: Comparing conditional positive regard, conditional negative regard, and autonomy support as parenting practices. Developmental Psychology, 45, 1119–1142. doi:10.1037/a0015272

35.

Seiffge-Krenke

(2011). Coping with relationship stressors: A decade review. Journal of Research on Adolesence, 21, 196–210. doi:10.1111/j.1532-7795.2010.00723.x

36.

Seiffge-Krenke

Aunola

Nurmi

(2009). Changes in stress perception and coping during adolescence: The role of situational and personal factors. Child Development, 80, 259–279. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01258.x

37.

Shaver

P. R.

Mikulincer

(2002). Attachment related psychodynamics. Attachment and Human Development, 4, 133–161. doi:10.1080/14616730210154171

38.

Spirito

Stark

L. J.

Grace

Stamoulis

(1991). Common problems and coping strategies reported in childhood and early adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 20, 531–544. doi:10.1007/BF01540636

39.

Sroufe

A. L.

(1996). Emotional development: The organization of emotional life in the early years. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

40.

Thompson

R. A.

(1994). Emotion regulation: A theme in search of definition. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59, 25–52. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5834.1994.tb01276.x

41.

Wei

Vogel

D. L.

T.-Y.

Zakalik

R. A.

(2005). Adult attachment, affect regulation, negative mood, and interpersonal problems: The mediating roles of emotional reactivity and emotional cutoff. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52, 14–24. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.52.1.14

42.

Wilkinson

R. B.

(2011). Measuring attachment dimensions in adolescents: Development and validation of the experiences in close relationships — Revised — General short form. Journal of Relationships Research, 2, 53–62. doi:10.1375/jrr.2.1.53

43.

Zimmer-Gembeck

M. J.

Nesdale

(2013). Anxious and angry rejection sensitivity, social withdrawal, and retribution in high and low ambiguous situations. Journal of Personality, 81, 29–38. doi:10. 1111/j.1467-6494.2012.00792.x

44.

Zimmer-Gembeck

M. J.

Webb

H. J.

Pepping

C. A.

Swan

Merlo

Skinner

E. A.

… Dunbar

(2017). Review: Is Parent–Child Attachment a Correlate of Children's Emotion Regulation and Coping? International Journal of Behavioral Development, 41(1), 74–93.