Gender moderates the associations between attachment and discrete emotions in late middle age and later life

CROWD-5e: A Croatian psycholinguistic database of affective norms for five discrete emotions

The present study introduces affective norms for a set of 3022 Croatian words on five discrete emotions: happiness, anger, sadness, fear, and disgust. The words were rated by 1239 Croatian native speakers. Each participant rated 251 or 252 words for one discrete emotion on a five-point Likert scale. The analyses revealed a significant relationship between discrete emotions, emotional dimensions (valence and arousal), and other psycholinguistic properties of words. In addition, small sex differences in discrete emotion ratings were found. Finally, the analysis of the distribution of words among discrete emotions allowed a distinction between "pure" words (i.e., those mostly related to a single emotion) and "mixed" words (i.e., those related to more than one emotion). The new database extends the existing Croatian affective norms collected from a dimensional conception of emotions, providing the necessary resource for future experimental investigation in Croatian within the theoretical framework of discrete emotions.

Recalling support provision decreases distress and anger in response to partner suffering

OBJECTIVES

Thinking about a loved one's suffering can be emotionally stressful and have negative effects on a person's psychological and physical health over time. This study examined the hypotheses that when thinking about a partner's suffering (1) recalling past support provision to the suffering partner can decrease distress and anger and increase compassion, and (2) attachment orientation moderates these effects.

METHOD

Seventy-seven older adult spouses of individuals with chronic pain were video-recorded while they disclosed: (1) an instance of partner suffering and (2) an instance of partner suffering plus their support provision. Compassion for the partner and their own distress and anger were self-reported immediately after each account. Accounts were coded for statements of support. Attachment was assessed with the Experiences with Close Relationships measure.

RESULTS

As hypothesized, distress and anger were lower in the 'suffering with support' condition versus the 'suffering only' condition. There was no evidence that attachment orientation significantly moderated the effect of support recollection on emotional responses; however, more avoidant individuals reported less compassion and anger and used more words reflecting anger across conditions. More anxiously attached individuals reported greater compassion across conditions.

CONCLUSION

When thinking about a partner's suffering, there are attachment-related differences in emotional reactions. Yet, regardless of these differences, it may be adaptive for spouses to think about their role in providing support to their partner to decrease their own negative emotions.

Attachment and health care utilization among middle-aged and older African-descent men: dismissiveness predicts less frequent digital rectal examination and prostate-specific antigen screening

Although health care utilization occurs in interpersonal contexts, little is known regarding how interpersonal preferences or styles among patients may be relevant. A small body of work has identified links between attachment-a dispositional style of relating to others-and patterns of health care use. The current report examined how attachment characteristics predicted the frequency of digital rectal exam and prostate-specific antigen testing in a sample of African-descent men. Four hundred and fourteen African-descent men aged 45 to 70 years completed measures of prostate screening and attachment, together with measures of traditional predictors of screening (demographics, insurance, family history, physician variables, knowledge, perceived risk, and accessibility). Consistent with predictions, dismissiveness-the most common relational style among older men-predicted less frequent prostate-specific antigen testing and digital rectal examination. However, attachment security-a comfort with intimate relationships-also predicted lower screening frequency. Identifying the interpersonal characteristics predicting screening may help identify men at risk of suboptimal health care use and guide the development of interventions suited to the normative relational preferences of current cohorts of older, African-descent men.

Attachment, activity limitation, and health symptoms in later life: the mediating roles of negative (and positive) affect

OBJECTIVE

Patterns of attachment-normative styles of relating to significant others-impact relationships across adulthood. Preliminary studies link attachment with health outcomes but have yet to examine older adults or functional impairment, and the mechanisms behind this relationship remain unclear. This report investigated how attachment predicted symptoms and functional impairment and tested the mediating roles of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA).

METHODS

1,118 older adults completed measures of attachment, health symptoms, and functional impairment, together with confounds including age, sex, and income.

RESULTS

As expected, security and fearful avoidance predicted greater symptomology, but only fearful avoidance predicted greater functional impairment. Negative affect partially mediated links between attachment and outcomes, but only for fearful avoidance.

DISCUSSION

Understanding links between attachment, symptom reports, and functional impairment will facilitate better understanding of positive aging versus premature decline, help identify at risk individuals, and guide interventions to assist optimal functioning in later life.

Models of self and others and their relation to positive and negative caregiving responses

The burden of providing informal care to a family member can lead to caregiver depression and potentially harmful caregiving behavior. Given the interpersonal nature of caregiving, the relationship between caregivers and care recipients may impact caregiver responses. We applied attachment theory to understanding caregiver depression, and both potentially harmful and exemplary caregiving responses. We present data from 430 caregivers in the Family Relationships in Late Life (FRILL 2) Project, a multisite, longitudinal study of caregiving. Age, gender, and model of self were related to caregiving responses, suggesting that model of self may help identify caregivers at risk for poor responses.

Attachment, Social Network Size, and Patterns of Social Exchange in Later Life

Dispositional styles of relating to significant others—adult attachment—are linked to social relatedness across the life span. Prior work has concentrated on the receipt of perceived social support and not examined links between attachment and patterns of exchange. Data from a sample of older adults ( N 1,118) were used to examine how secure, dismissive, and fearfully avoidant dimensions were associated with network size and patterns of exchange in kin and non-kin networks. Security was related to larger network size, greater reciprocity, and less “giving” to kin, whereas dismissiveness was associated with smaller non-kin networks, greater reciprocity, less “giving” to kin and non-kin, and more relationships involving “receiving” from kin. Levels of fearful avoidance were associated with fewer reciprocal relationships and more “receiving” from kin. Data are interpreted in light of attachment’s manifestations in motivational and interpersonal systems and may help explain variations in later life social network functioning.