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.
Coral outplanting is a potential method for restoring coral cover in degraded reefs. Rapid coral self‐attachment is key to successful outplanting. Although many technical details have been noted ...during coral outplanting, it remains unclear how nail type and coral orientation affect the outplanting success. To test the effect of nails and coral orientations on outplanted Acropora intermedia corals over 8 months in Luhuitou Reef, China, three nails (normal, cross, and eta) were selected based on their ability to limit coral movement and combined with two axial corallite orientations (upright and upside‐down). Survival, growth, and especially coral tissue growth on nails or substrates were monitored during the experiment. The survival, partial tissue mortality, and growth showed no significant difference between treatments. However, the ratio of normal nail self‐attachment to the reef substrate was significantly lower than with eta nails. Self‐attachment to the substrate of the upside‐down group was significantly higher than in the upright group. The results have suggested eta nails and upside‐down orientation are most favorable for coral self‐attachment. The sea cucumber Ocnus sanya outbreak at one experiment site gave us the opportunity to study the effects of species interactions on outplanted corals, showing that O. sanya may increase coral tissue mortality by staying at the corals' base and reducing their self‐attachment to the reef. These findings highlight the importance of considering nail type, coral orientation, and substrate biological competition on coral self‐attachment during outplanting.
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.
Object attachment is a core feature of hoarding disorder (HD), but it also occurs in people without HD. It is therefore critical to clarify differences between normal and abnormal object attachment. ...Although previous studies show that HD is associated with high emotional reactivity, no study to date has examined the nature and intensity of discrete emotions in people with and without HD in relation to object attachment.
Individuals with HD (n = 93) and matched controls (n = 93) were recruited via MTurk. They identified and described a possession of low monetary value that they were emotionally attached to and found difficult to discard. Participants rated their object attachment and the intensity of emotions when imagining being with the object (Scenario A) and irretrievably losing the same object (Scenario B).
Unexpectedly, there were no significant between-group differences on object attachment; however, the HD group experienced more incongruent emotions about their possessions; they reported significantly higher disgust, anxiety and anger than controls when they imagined being with their chosen object (Scenario A) and were more relaxed compared to controls when the object was lost (Scenario B). There were no significant differences between groups on congruent emotions (i.e., positive emotions in Scenario A or negative emotions in Scenario B).
People with and without HD experience similar emotional attachment for sentimental items but people with HD experience more mixed emotions, consistent with an insecure object attachment.
•Hoarding disorder (HD) is characterized by emotional attachments to objects.•People without HD also experience object attachment.•People with HD have more negative emotions for their possessions than controls.•People with HD feel more relaxed when losing a valued possession than controls.•Results are consistent with the presence of insecure object attachment in HD.
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.
Two studies examined whether concerns of relational value interfere with the ability of individuals higher in attachment anxiety to provide responsive support to their partner. In both studies, ...heterosexual couples engaged in 2 video-recorded discussions about each other's most important personal goal. Support recipients (the person whose goal was discussed) reported on how distressed they felt during the discussion. Support providers (the partner who was in the position to provide support) reported on how valued and appreciated they felt during the discussion. Independent observers coded the degree to which support providers exhibited critical and derogating behaviors versus warmth and understanding during the discussion. The results were consistent across both studies, with the exception that the predicted effects only emerged for male providers in Study 2. First, more anxious support providers felt less valued and appreciated when support recipients reported greater distress. Second, lower feelings of value/appreciation were associated with more anxious providers exhibiting greater negative support behavior. These results illustrate how the concerns of relational value central to attachment anxiety impede effective support provision, which should have detrimental effects for relationships. Indeed, consistent with prior research, greater negative behaviors by support providers predicted declines in recipients' relationship quality over time.
Nostalgia as a Repository of Social Connectedness Wildschut, Tim; Sedikides, Constantine; Routledge, Clay ...
Journal of personality and social psychology,
04/2010, Volume:
98, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
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).
This longitudinal study investigated marital satisfaction trajectories across the first 2 years of parenthood. Data were collected from new parents (couples) 6 weeks before the birth of their first ...child, and then at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months postpartum. Growth curve models revealed two key findings. First, for highly anxious individuals, satisfaction was lower or declined when they perceived their partners as less supportive and as behaving more negatively toward them. Second, for highly avoidant individuals, satisfaction was lower or declined when they perceived more work–family conflict and greater demands from their families. The findings suggest that attachment insecurities predict dissatisfaction in new parents primarily when stressors block the pursuit of important attachment goals.
Background. Romantic attachment is reflected in various aspects of dyadic interaction in a couple, since it is a self-reinforcing system of cognitive, emotional and behavioral patterns. Romantic ...jealousy was shown to be associated with dimensions of attachment insecurity in various studies worldwide. Objectives. To identify differences in expressions of romantic jealousy based on romantic attachment style. To determine the influence of attachment-related anxiety and attachment-related avoidance on cognitive, emotional, and behavioral jealousy. Design. The sample comprised 171 heterosexual individuals. The “Experiences in Close Relationships – Revised” questionnaire (ECR-R; Fraley, Waller, & Brennan, 2000; adapted for Russian by Chursina, 2022) and “Multidimensional Jealousy Scale” (MJS; Pfeiffer, & Wong, 1989) were used. Results. A number of significant differences were identified between insecure and secure attachment styles. Avoidant attachment is characterized by cognitive jealousy, ambivalent attachment is characterized by cognitive and behavioral jealousy, while dismissing attachment showed no significant differences in the manifestations of jealousy in comparison with secure attachment style. Emotional jealousy is equally characteristic of all types. The primacy of romantic attachment in relation to cognitive and behavioral jealousy was also proved. Conclusion. The experience of jealousy differs among romantic attachment styles. Attachment-related anxiety is a predictor of intrusive thoughts and behavioral manifestations of jealousy, while attachment-related avoidance is less, the greater the manifestation of jealousy behaviors.
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