Attachment and psychological distress: The mediator role of Negative Mood Regulation Expectancies

Attachment Anxiety and Nomophobia: A Moderated Parallel Mediation Model

Nomophobia is the state of being anxious or disturbed when feeling disconnected from the digital world and can have a significant impact on individuals' health and well-being. Drawing upon attachment theory and the previous literature on nomophobia, this study aims to understand how attachment anxiety influences nomophobia and whether this relationship differs between males and females. In the Human Penguin Project (HPP) (N = 1221; 12 countries; participants aged ≥20 years), the Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire-Revised (ECR-R), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) were used to assess attachment anxiety, alexithymia, perceived stress, and nomophobia, respectively. The results demonstrated that (1) there were significant positive correlations between attachment anxiety, nomophobia, alexithymia, and perceived stress. Additionally, (2) there was a direct and significant effect of attachment anxiety on nomophobia, and alexithymia and perceived stress partially mediated this relationship. Finally, (3) gender significantly moderated the relationship between attachment anxiety and nomophobia. Specifically, the predicted effect was significant in both males and females, but the direct effect of attachment anxiety and nomophobia was stronger in males.

The mediating effect of psychological capital on the relationship between psychological stress and distress among chinese nursing students: a cross-sectional study

Background

With the COVID-19 outbreak in China, the Chinese government took measures to prevent and control the spread of the virus. In-person teaching was replaced by distance learning, which was an unknown challenge for students. In this context, little is known about the perceived distress of nursing students and the relationship between psychological capital, perceived distress, and psychological stress. This study examined the relationship between psychological capital, psychological distress, and perceived stress, and the mediating role of psychological capital in the relationship between perceived stress and psychological distress among nursing students.

Methods

This cross-sectional survey was conducted between January and December 2020 using a convenience sampling method involving 359 undergraduate and specialist nursing students at a tertiary hospital in Shandong Province. Standardised instruments were used to measure psychological capital, psychological stress, and perceived stress. We used SPSS 24.0 and PROCESS macro to analyse the data.

Results

There was a statistically significant difference in perceived stress among students based on whether they liked the nursing profession (P < 0.01). Relative to nursing college students, undergraduates experienced significantly higher levels of perceived stress (P < 0.01). Nevertheless, there were no significant differences in perceived stress according to gender, place of residence, and being an only child. Psychological distress was positively correlated (r = 0.632, p < 0.001) with perceived stress (r =-0.662, p < 0.001), whereas it was negatively correlated with psychological capital. Psychological capital played a potential mediating role in the relationship between psychological distress and perceived stress.

Conclusions

Psychological distress was negatively correlated with psychological capital, and positively correlated with perceived stress. Mediation analyses indicated that psychological capital partially mediated the relationship between perceived stress and psychological distress. Educators should therefore heed students’ perceived stress and develop appropriate mental health counselling programmes for students in the curriculum that could help them reduce their psychological distress. In clinical practice, nursing managers must take effective measures, such as skills training, to improve the psychological capital of nursing students and reduce the negative impact of their psychological distress.

The mediating effect of attachment insecurity on circadian consequences of childhood trauma

Circadian preferences have been associated with mental health as well as social and physical health in recent years. However, factors associated with circadian preferences have not been fully elucidated. The main aim of this study is to investigate the associations of childhood trauma and attachment styles with circadian preferences. A total of 673 participants were evaluated using the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire 28 (CTQ-28), and the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) questionnaire. The results indicated that 14.9% (n = 100) of the participants were morning type, 20.6% (n = 139) were evening type, and 64.5% (n = 434) were intermediate type. Both childhood trauma and attachment-related anxiety/avoidance scores were associated with being evening type (p < .01). Moreover, attachment-related anxiety and avoidance fully mediated the association between childhood trauma and circadian preferences. The present study showed that attachment styles might be associated with circadian preferences. Further studies are needed to replicate these results and to infer explanatory mechanisms for these cross-sectional associations.

The influence of organizational death on work priorities and the moderating role of attachment internal working models

Downturns in the global economy have caused even large organizations to cease to operate; a phenomenon often dubbed "organizational death". Two studies focused on individual coping strategies in times of organizational death and the possible moderating role of attachment as a personality factor. Experiment 1 (N = 162) explored the effects of the saliency of organizational death on work priorities, and the moderating role of dispositional attachment orientation. Experiment 2 (N = 119) examined the interaction between dispositional attachment and the recall of an attachment event on work priorities. Participants reported their work priorities after being primed to imagine that their organization must either shut down or undergo an organizational crisis (or were assigned to a neutral control group), and completed the Experiences in Close Relationships scale to determine their attachment orientation. In Experiment 2, participants were also asked to recall a secure/insecure event after organizational death (or organizational crisis) priming to test the impact of external attachment event recall saliency and its interaction with dispositional attachment on work priorities. Dispositional avoidance (but not anxiety) moderated the effects of the organizational priming condition on work priorities. Recall of an attachment event interacted with dispositional avoidance (but not anxiety) on work priorities after organizational death priming. The saliency of organizational death mitigated the moderating role of individual differences on the effects of both dispositional orientation and priming of an attachment event on work priorities. Thus, a significant event that undermines one of the pillars of security in adulthood may lessen individual differences in work priorities following this exposure.