Individuals with personality disorders often experience romantic relationship dysfunction and have an insecure attachment style. Here, we examined attachment dynamics in dyadic interactions, focusing ...specifically on the role of physiological coregulation in state attachment processes in couples oversampled for personality pathology. A total of 121 couples completed a 10-minute discussion about an area of disagreement in their relationship and a 5-minute discussion in which they planned an event together. We used a dynamical model of heart rate changes to estimate coregulation. We found that (a) increases in state attachment avoidance were associated with contrarian coregulation (heart rate becoming misaligned with the partner's physiology) and (b) conversely, increases in state attachment anxiety were associated with dependent coregulation (heart rate becoming aligned with the partners' physiology). Dispositional attachment insecurity moderated the effects of state attachment insecurity on physiological coregulation. Whereas dispositional anxiety predicted individuals exhibiting dependent coregulation in response to state insecurity, dispositional avoidance predicted contrarian coregulation in response to state insecurity. This work provides insight into the role of physiological coregulation in attachment dynamics among couples oversampled for personality pathology, suggesting that disruptions to coregulation contribute to impaired emotion regulation during romantic conflicts.
This research examines the contextual factors that facilitate development and change in attachment during later childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood using a longitudinal cohort design ...involving 690 children (7-19 years old) and their parents. At each wave, a variety of interpersonal variables (e.g., parent-child stress) were measured. We examined alternative developmental processes (i.e., long-term, catalytic, and short-term processes) that have not been previously distinguished in attachment research. Preregistered analyses revealed that nondevelopmental processes can explain the associations between almost all of the interpersonal variables of interest and attachment security, suggesting that previous research using traditional longitudinal methods may have misattributed nondevelopmental processes for developmental ones. For example, we found that friendship quality, although prospectively associated with attachment both in prior work and in the current study, was not developmentally associated with attachment. However, after controlling for nondevelopmental sources of covariation, we identified a number of developmental processes that may help explain change in attachment. For example, we found that initial levels of parental depression, as well as growth in parent-child stress, were related to growth in adolescent insecurity over 3 years. We also examined 12 genetic variants studied in previous research and found that they were not related to average levels or changes in attachment. These results highlight how distinguishing unique kinds of developmental processes allows for a more comprehensive understanding of attachment.
Rapidly growing research on parental mind-mindedness, a tendency to treat one's young child as a psychological agent and an individual with a mind, internal mental states, and emotions, has ...demonstrated significant links among parents' mind-mindedness, their parenting, and multiple aspects of children's development. This prospective longitudinal study of 102 community mothers, fathers, and infants, followed from 7 months to 10 years, contributes to research on mind-mindedness by addressing several existing gaps and limitations. We examine mechanisms that account for associations between parents' early mind-mindedness and children's future attachment security, using robust behavioral measures. Teams of trained observers coded parents' mind-minded comments to their infants at 7 months during naturalistic interactions, parents' responsiveness in naturalistic interactions and in elicited imitation tasks at 15 months, and children's security, using Attachment Q-Set at 2 years and Iowa Attachment Behavioral Coding at 10 years. Sequential mediation analyses supported a model of a developmental path from parents' appropriate mind-minded comments in infancy to children's security at age 10. For mothers and children, the path was mediated first through responsiveness at 15 months and then security at 2 years. For fathers and children, the path was mediated through attachment security at 2 years. Parents' nonattuned mind-minded comments had no effects on responsiveness or security.
to compare maternal–fetal attachment (MFA) and paternal–fetal attachment (PFA) in terms of selected variables.
cross-sectional study.
three training hospitals in Ankara, Turkey. The study was ...performed between December 2005 and March 2006.
a total of 144 pregnant women and 144 partners participated in the study; the response rate was 98%.
there was a statistically significant difference between MFA and PFA scores (
p<0.001). A comparison of MFA and PFA scores according to the selected variables (education, employment status, planning of pregnancy, pregnancy risk status) revealed that the MFA scores for pregnant women were significantly higher than the PFA scores of their partners, except for unemployed partners. The MFA (
ρ=−0.24,
p<0.004) and PFA (
ρ=−0.32,
p<0.001) scores decreased with increasing age of both pregnant women and their partners.
although partners have lower fetal attachment scores than pregnant women, it is important to recognise factors influencing the attachment of the mother and father towards their fetus. Prenatal midwives and nurses are in a unique position to assess attachment and to intervene to promote attachment behaviours.
Developing an emotional bond to the fetus is a highly relevant task for both parents. However, research on the influence of emotional well-being and relationship dynamics on parental-fetal bonding is ...limited, especially regarding the paternal experience. Additionally, the roles of prenatal anxiety and hostility in parental bonding need further investigation. The aim of this study was to investigate the importance of one's own anxiety and hostility, adult romantic attachment style and one's partner's anxiety and hostility for parental-fetal bonding quality and intensity.
Data were assessed cross-sectionally and analyzed using linear regression models.
The study took place at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany.
Ninety-three pregnant women and their partners (total n = 186).
Participants completed questionnaires in mid to late pregnancy. For mothers, higher levels of hostility and attachment-related avoidance were associated with lower bonding quality. Unexpectedly, higher levels of partner hostility were associated with higher bonding quality. Fathers with higher attachment-related avoidance reported lower bonding intensity. Neither maternal bonding intensity nor paternal bonding quality was associated with the predictor variables.
Prenatal bonding is individually influenced by emotional well-being and romantic attachment styles, with different effects in mothers and fathers.
Potential negative emotional states and couple dynamics in the peripartum period should be addressed in prenatal care. Birth preparation classes might be an ideal context to generally inform parents about these topics. Distressed parents might benefit from interdisciplinary support focusing on perinatal mental health and parental-fetal bonding.
This paper investigates the flame attachment characteristics in inclined trenches through experimental and theoretical analyses. The experimental data include the flame geometry, pulsation, upslope ...gas temperature, and velocity with different sidewall heights, heat release rates, and slopes. We focus on four distinct states and two crucial critical angles of flame attachment at different slopes. The effects of heat release rate and trench configuration parameters on flame attachment are discussed. Four different flame states were observed: I-Vertical; II-Inclined without flame attachment; III-Inclined with flame attachment; and IV-Fully attached. It is revealed that the changes in the flame attachment state result from competing buoyancy and pressure differences between the two sides of the flame. For slopes without sidewalls (with experimental slope angles from 0° to 40° in this work), the flame attachment state significantly depends on the heat release rate, with more inhibition of flame attachment as the heat release rate increases. Trench sidewalls facilitate flame attachment, and the flame attachment state weakly depends on the heat release rate. The flame geometry is characterized using dimensionless parameters based on mechanism analysis. The heat release rate affects both flame height and attachment length in all attachment states. In addition, flame height is affected by slope in State III, while flame attachment length is affected by slope in State III and by trench sidewalls in State IV. Furthermore, the presence of the trench enhances the convective heat transfer, resulting in accelerated velocity growth ahead of the flame front. The flame pulsation conforms to a normal distribution only in sloped conditions since, in sloped trench conditions, the flame is mainly controlled by momentum in State IV.
Highlights • We examined effects of multiple-dose intranasal oxytocin (OT) on attachment. • State and Trait attachment were assessed before and after two-week OT administration. • OT treatment ...decreased attachment avoidance and increased attachment toward peers. • Participants with less secure peer attachment showed most pronounced OT effects. • OT treatment was also associated with changes in mood
This study aimed to test a four‐wave sequential mediation model linking mother–child attachment to children's school readiness through child executive functioning (EF) and prosociality in toddlerhood ...and the preschool years. Mother–child attachment security was assessed when children (N = 255) were aged 15 months and 2 years, child EF at age 2, prosocial behavior at age 4, and finally cognitive school readiness in kindergarten (age 6). The results revealed three indirect pathways linking attachment to school readiness: one through EF only, one through prosocial behavior only, and a last pathway involving both EF and prosocial behavior serially. These findings suggest that secure attachment may equip children with both cognitive and social skills that are instrumental to their preparedness for school.
Nostalgia as a Repository of Social Connectedness Wildschut, Tim; Sedikides, Constantine; Routledge, Clay ...
Journal of personality and social psychology,
04/2010, Letnik:
98, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Individuals who are low (compared with high) in attachment-related avoidance rely on social bonds to regulate distress, and the authors hypothesized that nostalgia can be a repository of such social ...connectedness. Studies 1-3 showed a positive association between loneliness and nostalgia when attachment-related avoidance was low, but not when it was high. Study 4 revealed that low-avoidance individuals derived more social connectedness from nostalgia than did high-avoidance individuals. Study 5 extended these findings and demonstrated that, in addition to being a source of social connectedness, nostalgia increased participants' perceived capacity to provide emotional support to others. As in the case of social connectedness, this beneficial effect of nostalgia was significantly stronger when attachment-related avoidance was low (compared with high).
Objective: Subjective well-being is a crucial variable for mental health practitioners. This study examines the influence of therapists' attachment dimensions and self-reported reflective functioning ...on their perceived well-being. Further, it examines if reflective functioning mediates the association between attachment insecurity and well-being. Method: A total of 416 experienced psychotherapists were enrolled in this cross-sectional study, and completed self-report measures of attachment insecurity, reflective functioning, and well-being. We tested the hypothesized mediation model with path analysis that examined indirect effects. Results: Both attachment anxiety and avoidance dimensions had a significant negative association with perceived well-being with small to medium effects. "Certainty" in reflective functioning had a small positive effect on therapist well-being. Reflective functioning mediated the association between insecure attachment dimensions and well-being, suggesting that therapist's lower ability to mentalize may partially account for the effects of higher attachment insecurity on lower well-being. Conclusion: The well-being of psychotherapists with greater insecure attachment may deserve special attention, and therapists' mentalizing capacities may be targeted by researchers and trainers as a core ability to be cultivated in order to preserve therapists' professional and personal resources.
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