The boundaries between attachment and personality: Localized versus generalized effects in daily social interaction

Dysfunctional Attitudes, Sociotropy-Autonomy, and Intimate Partner Violence Victimization in Emerging Adulthood

Understanding the dynamics and vulnerability factors involved in intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization among emerging adults is important in order to better prevent it from happening. The current study aimed to investigate the relationships among dysfunctional attitudes, sociotropy-autonomy, and types of IPV victimization (i.e., psychological, physical, and sexual) and severity (i.e., minor or severe) in emerging adulthood. Through an online survey, 929 emerging adults (84.6% women, mean age = 23.61) completed self-report questionnaires related to variables explored. When checking for childhood abuse, dysfunctional attitudes, sociotropy, and autonomy were related to IPV victimization for at least one type of violence and one scale of severity. The regression models show that independence from others and importance given to others are related to greater severe and minor physical violence, respectively. Attraction to loneliness seemed related to lesser minor psychological violence, whilst valorization of freedom of movement and action were related to greater minor sexual violence. The capacity to oppose others seemed related to greater severe sexual violence. These different cognitive and social characteristics may be associated with poorer social skills, thus making emerging adults more vulnerable to IPV victimization. The preventive and clinical implications are discussed.

Rejection Sensitivity and Borderline Personality Disorder Features: The Mediating Roles of Attachment Anxiety, Need to Belong, and Self-Criticism

Rejection hypersensitivity has been considered the core feature of patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, little is known about the possible developmental mechanisms that might explain the association between rejection sensitivity and BPD features. The current study investigated the mediating roles of adult attachment, need to belong, and self-criticism in the association between rejection sensitivity and BPD features in 256 healthy adults. Results indicated that attachment anxiety, need to belong, and self-criticism mediated the association between rejection sensitivity and BPD features. However, attachment anxiety and self-criticism did not moderate the mediated association between rejection sensitivity and BPD features. The findings suggest that individuals with high rejection sensitivity are more likely to be anxiously attached to significant others, which might increase the desire to be accepted by others. To satisfy this elevated need to affiliate with others, these individuals might become more self-critical, which may contribute to high BPD features.

Perinatal Depression and Patterns of Attachment: A Critical Risk Factor?

Background. This study aims to verify if the presence and severity of perinatal depression are related to any particular pattern of attachment. Methods. The study started with a screening of a sample of 453 women in their third trimester of pregnancy, who were administered a survey data form, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Experience in Close Relationship (ECR). A clinical group of subjects with perinatal depression (PND, 89 subjects) was selected and compared with a control group (C), regarding psychopathological variables and attachment patterns. Results. The ECR showed a prevalence of "Fearful-Avoidant" attachment style in PND group (29.2% versus 1.1%, p < 0.001); additionally, the EPDS average score increases with the increasing of ECR dimensions (Avoidance and Anxiety). Conclusion. The severity of depression increases proportionally to attachment disorganization; therefore, we consider attachment as both an important risk factor as well as a focus for early psychotherapeutic intervention.

The relationships of attachment style and social maladjustment to death ideation in depressed women with a history of childhood sexual abuse

The current study examined the interaction of attachment orientation and acute social maladjustment as risk factors for death ideation in a sample of women with Major Depression and histories of childhood sexual abuse. Social maladjustment was associated with greater endorsement of death ideation. Avoidant and anxious attachment orientations moderated the social maladjustment and death ideation associations in some domains. Work-related maladjustment was associated with greater odds of death ideation for those with higher attachment avoidance. Parent-role maladjustment was associated with greater odds of death ideation for those with lower attachment anxiety. Findings demonstrate strong associations between death ideation and social maladjustment, and suggest that death ideation may be specific to certain domains of adjustment for anxious and avoidant attachment styles.

Sex differences in romantic attachment: a meta-analysis

This article presents the first meta-analysis of sex differences in the avoidance and anxiety dimensions of adult romantic attachment, based on 113 samples (N = 66,132) from 100 studies employing two-dimensional romantic attachment questionnaires (Experiences in Close Relationships, Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised, and Adult Attachment Questionnaire). Overall, males showed higher avoidance and lower anxiety than females, with substantial between-study heterogeneity. Sex differences were much larger in community samples (bivariate D = .28) than in college samples (D = .12); web-based studies showed the smallest sex differences (D = .07) in the opposite direction. Sex differences also varied across geographic regions (overall Ds = .10 to .34). Sex differences in anxiety peaked in young adulthood, whereas those in avoidance increased through the life course. The relevance of these findings for evolutionary models of romantic attachment is discussed, and possible factors leading to underestimation of sex differences are reviewed.

The Role of Depressogenic Personality and Attachment in the Intergenerational Similarity of Depressive Symptoms: A Study With Early Adolescents and Their Mothers

Parental depression has been identified as a risk factor for psychopathology in children, and for child depression in particular. Increasingly, research is addressing the underlying psychological processes that may explain the intergenerational similarity of depressive symptoms. In the present study, we aim to investigate the role of two theoretically relevant vulnerability factors in this intergenerational similarity, that is, (a) dimensions of depressogenic personality (i.e., sociotropy and autonomy) and (b) dimensions of attachment (i.e., anxiety and avoidance). Results in a sample of early adolescents and their mothers show significant intergenerational similarity in both sets of vulnerabilities. Moreover, the intergenerational similarity of both vulnerability factors was found to account for the association between mothers’ and children’s depressive symptoms. Within each generation there were also meaningful and specific associations between dimensions of depressogenic personality and dimensions of attachment, with sociotropy being primarily related to anxiety and with autonomy being primarily related to avoidance.

Integrating theory-driven and empirically-derived models of personality development and psychopathology: a proposal for DSM V

Although there is growing consensus that the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) should replace the categorical view of mental disorders with a dimensional approach rooted in personality theory, no consensus has emerged about the dimensions that should be the basis of the new classification system. Moreover, recent attempts to bridge the gap between psychiatric nosology and personality theories have primarily relied on empirically-derived dimensional personality models. While this focus on empirically-derived personality theories may result in a psychometrically valid classification system, it may create a classification system that lacks theoretical and empirical comprehensiveness and has limited clinical utility. In this paper, we first argue that research findings increasingly suggest that an integration of theory-driven and empirically-derived models of personality development is not only possible, but also has the potential to provide a more comprehensive and clinically-relevant approach to classification and diagnosis than either approach alone. Next, we propose a comprehensive model of personality development and psychopathology based on an integration of contemporary theory-driven and empirically-derived models of personality. Finally, we outline the implications of this approach for the future development of DSM, and especially its potential for developing research that addresses the interactions between psychosocial and neurobiological processes implicated in personality development and psychopathology.