Graham Nelson, Michael W O'Hara, Grazyna Kochanska et al. · 2020
The associations between internalizing disorder symptoms and attachment insecurity (attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance) are well established. However, the effect sizes of these associations vary considerably across studies, and a number of issues remain unresolved. The present study sought to examine which specific internalizing symptoms are associated with attachment anxiety and avoidance, as well as clarify the roles played by type of attachment (anxiety vs. avoidance; relationship-specific vs. trait level), relationship length, and attachment strength in the association between attachment insecurity and core internalizing symptoms. Participants from two samples, made up of undergraduate students (n = 409) and Researchmatch.org members (n = 425), completed online measures of general and relationship-specific adult attachment (ECR-RS), internalizing disorder symptoms (IDAS-II), and positive and negative affect (PANAS). Relationship specific attachment anxiety and avoidance were significant predictors of core internalizing symptoms beyond the contribution of general attachment anxiety and avoidance. Attachment anxiety in romantic and peer relationships emerged as a unique predictor of core internalizing symptoms, whereas relationship-specific attachment avoidance was largely not a significant predictor. When comparing general attachment anxiety and general attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety was a unique predictor of most internalizing symptoms, whereas attachment avoidance was a unique predictor of select symptoms, including social anxiety and traumatic avoidance. Positive and negative affect accounted for some, but not all of the relationships between attachment insecurity and internalizing symptoms. Relationship length moderated the association between attachment anxiety and internalizing symptoms in the student sample only, whereas attachment strength was not a significant moderator in either sample. The associations between adult attachment anxiety and avoidance with specific internalizing symptoms were consistent with current theories of internalizing psychopathology. These results suggest that theories of the role of adult attachment insecurity in internalizing psychopathology will need to account for specific attachment relationships, the role of positive and negative affect, and the association between attachment avoidance and avoidance more broadly. It will be important for future research and clinical work with individuals with internalizing symptoms to focus on the development and maintenance of secure attachment relationships.
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Marcin Sękowski · Harvard Dataverse · 2023
Data related to the article titled "Attachment disorganization, anxiety and avoidance: Factor structure and latent profiles of the three dimensions of attachment and their associations with hypomentalization, depressive symptoms and suicidality."
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Kronström, Ruben Lucius · Open Science Framework · 2025
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András Láng, Bernadette Péley, Laura M. Barlay et al. · Europe’s Journal of Psychology · 2012
A new scale measuring patient-therapist attachment avoidance was developed. Attachment Avoidance in Therapy Scale is a new measure based on the Bartholomew model of adult attachment (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991) and the Experience in Close Relationships Scale (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998) to measure patients’ attachment avoidance towards therapists. With 112 patient-therapist dyads participating in the study, validation of a preliminary scale – measuring both attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance in therapy – took place using therapists’ evaluations of patients’ relational behavior and patients’ self-reports about their attitude toward psychotherapy. Analysis of the data revealed six underlying scales. Results showed all six scales to be reliable. Validation of scales measuring attachment anxiety failed. The importance of Attachment Avoidance in Therapy Scale and its subscales is discussed.
Cited by 4Open access
Steven M. Kirsh · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
This study examined the relationship between adult attachment orientation and attentional bias to threat using an emotion-induced blindness paradigm. Emotion-induced blindness refers to reduced accuracy in identifying a neutral target when it appears shortly after an emotionally salient distractor, reflecting the capture of limited perceptual resources by emotional information. A total of 232 participants completed self-report measures assessing global attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance and then performed an emotion-induced blindness task involving threatening and non-threatening interpersonal images. The task required participants to identify the orientation of a neutral target image presented at varying temporal intervals following emotionally charged distractors. Regression analyses indicated that attachment avoidance, but not attachment anxiety, significantly predicted emotion-induced blindness following the presentation of threatening images. Specifically, higher levels of attachment avoidance were associated with poorer target identification at intermediate temporal lags, suggesting greater attentional capture by threat related stimuli. No significant effects were observed for attachment anxiety, or for the interaction between attachment anxiety and avoidance. These findings were specific to threatening content and did not emerge uniformly across all stimulus types or temporal intervals. The results are interpreted within the framework of the dual process model of avoidant attachment, which proposes an initial automatic attunement to threat followed by strategic attentional disengagement. The observed pattern is consistent with the notion that individuals high in attachment avoidance initially allocate attentional resources to threat related cues, leading to temporary impairment in processing subsequent neutral information. Over longer intervals, attentional resources may be released, allowing performance to recover. In contrast, the absence of effects for attachment anxiety suggests that hypervigilant processing may depend on contextual factors such as stress, which were not manipulated in the present study. Overall, the findings extend existing research on attachment related attentional processes by demonstrating that attachment avoidance is associated with selective impairments in perceptual processing under conditions of emotional competition.
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Yoobin Park · OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) · 2018
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John Richer · Early Child Development and Care · 1993
In this brief paper I will try to show how ethological approaches can be part of an approach to understanding some disturbed behavior in early childhood. I also shall suggest that there might be more useful ways of classifying children's disturbed behavior using these approaches (rather than the present psychiatric categories) which would improve interventions.
Cited by 7
Steven M. Kirsh · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
This study examined the relationship between adult attachment orientation and attentional bias to threat using an emotion-induced blindness paradigm. Emotion-induced blindness refers to reduced accuracy in identifying a neutral target when it appears shortly after an emotionally salient distractor, reflecting the capture of limited perceptual resources by emotional information. A total of 232 participants completed self-report measures assessing global attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance and then performed an emotion-induced blindness task involving threatening and non-threatening interpersonal images. The task required participants to identify the orientation of a neutral target image presented at varying temporal intervals following emotionally charged distractors. Regression analyses indicated that attachment avoidance, but not attachment anxiety, significantly predicted emotion-induced blindness following the presentation of threatening images. Specifically, higher levels of attachment avoidance were associated with poorer target identification at intermediate temporal lags, suggesting greater attentional capture by threat related stimuli. No significant effects were observed for attachment anxiety, or for the interaction between attachment anxiety and avoidance. These findings were specific to threatening content and did not emerge uniformly across all stimulus types or temporal intervals. The results are interpreted within the framework of the dual process model of avoidant attachment, which proposes an initial automatic attunement to threat followed by strategic attentional disengagement. The observed pattern is consistent with the notion that individuals high in attachment avoidance initially allocate attentional resources to threat related cues, leading to temporary impairment in processing subsequent neutral information. Over longer intervals, attentional resources may be released, allowing performance to recover. In contrast, the absence of effects for attachment anxiety suggests that hypervigilant processing may depend on contextual factors such as stress, which were not manipulated in the present study. Overall, the findings extend existing research on attachment related attentional processes by demonstrating that attachment avoidance is associated with selective impairments in perceptual processing under conditions of emotional competition.
Cited by 0Open access
Lisa L. McKinley, Christine L. Pearson, Diana M. Doumas · PsycEXTRA Dataset · 2006
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Tomotaka Umemura (9916674), Aneta Siroňová (9936915), Lenka Lacinová (9916677) et al. · Figshare · 2021
<p>Bifactor analyses of attachment hierarchy and attachment avoidance in Czech adolescents.</p>
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Ha-Yeoung Min · Human Ecology Research · 2024
This study explored the relationship between maternal early parental attachment (EPA) and social interest. The participants were 311 mothers with elementary schoolchildren who lived in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk area. Data were collected through an online questionnaire provided on the portal site and analyzed using k-means clustering, <i>t</i>-test, One-Way ANOVA, and Pearson’s correlation using IBM SPSS Statistics 21 for Windows and, RMSEA, TLI, NFI and CFI using IBM SPSS AMOS 18 for Windows. The principal results were as follows. Firstly, mothers’ EPA anxiety and avoidance had a negative influence on social interest. Secondly, social interest was found to be significantly higher among mothers with a secure attachment style than among mothers with an insecure attachment style. Thirdly, significant differences were observed in levels of social interest among mothers with secure, preoccupied, dismissive, and disorientated attachment styles. A Scheffé post-hoc test revealed that social interest was significantly higher among mothers with a secure attachment style than among mothers with a disorientated attachment style. The experience of relationships with caregivers early in life is therefore important in the development of social interest.
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Elvina Jesslyn, Fransisca Iriani Roesmala Dewi · Proceedings of the Tarumanagara International Conference on the Applications of Social Sciences and Humanities (TICASH 2019) · 2020
Emerging adults have development task to form intimate relationships, one of which is formed through dating. An important aspect for a healthy relationship is trust. Low trust in relationship is associated with higher relationship uncertainty. This study is aimed to examine the role of attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and perceived partner responsiveness on trust in dating couples. Research used quantitative design which included 209 subjects (female: 78%, male: 22%) currently involved in romantic relationship for at least 2 years, and aged 18 to 25 years old (M=21,19, SD = 1,72). Instruments used in this research are: (a) Trust in Close Relationship Scale, (b) Experience in Close Relationship, and (c) Perceived Partner Responsiveness Scale.
Cited by 4Open access
Tomotaka Umemura (9916674), Aneta Siroňová (9936915), Lenka Lacinová (9916677) et al. · Figshare · 2021
<p>Bifactor analyses of attachment hierarchy and attachment avoidance in Czech young adults.</p>
Cited by 0Open access
Tomotaka Umemura (9916674), Aneta Siroňová (9936915), Lenka Lacinová (9916677) et al. · Figshare · 2021
<p>Bifactor analyses of attachment hierarchy and attachment avoidance in Japanese young adults.</p>
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Tomotaka Umemura (9916674), Aneta Siroňová (9936915), Lenka Lacinová (9916677) et al. · Figshare · 2021
<p>Bifactor analysis of attachment hierarchy and attachment avoidance in American young adults.</p>
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Lee N. Johnson, Rachel B. Tambling, Kayla D. Mennenga et al. · Journal of Marital and Family Therapy · 2015
This study examined initial levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance, as well as their patterns of change, across eight sessions of couple therapy. Participants were 461 couples in a treatment-as-usual setting. Dyadic latent growth modeling was used to determine whether couples started therapy at similar levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance and whether attachment anxiety and avoidance changed. An actor partner interdependence model was used to see whether partner attachment anxiety was related to avoidance. Results showed relative stability of attachment anxiety and avoidance over the course of therapy, with the only change being a slight decline in attachment anxiety among women. Results showed that a person's attachment anxiety was not related to their partner's avoidance and vice versa.
Cited by 25
Geneviève Beaulieu‐Pelletier, Frédérick L. Philippe, Serge Lecours et al. · Attachment & Human Development · 2011
The purposes of the present research were to examine the relationship between attachment and extradyadic sex and to investigate a mediator of this relationship. Study 1 showed that attachment avoidance was positively associated with extradyadic sex, while attachment anxiety was unrelated to it. These results were maintained after controlling for sexual satisfaction, sexual desire, gender, and age. Study 2 replicated the results from Study 1, while also controlling for couple adjustment. Study 3 used a prospective design and further showed that concerns with the partner's desire for engagement mediated the relationship between attachment avoidance and extradyadic sex. Overall, the findings suggest that attachment avoidance increases people's irritation relative to their partner's desire for engagement which, in turn, increases their likelihood to engage in extradyadic sex. The possibility that individuals characterized by attachment avoidance might use extradyadic sex as a way to distance themselves from their partner is discussed.
Cited by 39
Peter M. Waser · The American Naturalist · 1976
Intergroup spacing of free-ranging mangabeys, Cercocebus albigena, was investigated by observation of group movements and intergroup behavioral interactions in western Uganda between 1971 and 1974. This omnivorous, arboreal species distinguishes itself from many other forest monkeys by its large home range and seminomadic pattern of movements. Although site attachment seems to be slight, its existence can be demonstrated by comparison of group movements with random-walk predictions. Frequency of intergroup encounter is extremely low; approaches involving visual contact between groups were observed only once in 120 days of systematic following. Interaction frequency can be compared with that predicted by a simple "gas" model of independent movement; encounters were found to be considerably rarer than expected. Simultaneous observation of neighboring groups' tracks indicates that groups tend to avoid each other by mutual withdrawal when they detect each other within about 500 m. Avoidance between groups is often accompanied by rapid approach and "monitoring" by certain adult males (christened RA males) which may interact directly with members of the opposing group but more commonly remain nearby but out of sight. Mutual avoidance occurs irrespective of the relative sizes of the interacting groups and of the location of the encounter relative to home-range centers. Existence of this avoidance-based spacing system may be favored by the irregular temporal distribution of major food resources, which has been documented in this study area. The relevance of the RA males' behavior to the maintenance of such a mutually reciprocal system is discussed.
Cited by 162
Vari, C., Campoli, M., Zanniello, R. et al. · IRIS Research product catalog (Sapienza University of Rome) · 2013
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Jean‐Philippe Gouin, Ronald Glaser, Timothy J. Loving et al. · Brain Behavior and Immunity · 2008
Cited by 132Open access