Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1997

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Psychology

Major Professor

Kathleen Lawler

Committee Members

Ronald Hopson, Robert Wahler, Robert Levey

Abstract

This study explored the association between the quality of attachment in close relationships during adulthood and patterns of negative affect. Based on attachment theory and research, it was hypothesized that attachment styles characterized by a negative "working model" of self (preoccupied and fearful avoidant) would be associated greater levels of self-reported negative affect compared with attachment styles defined by positive working models of self (secure and dismissing avoidant). Also, dismissing avoidance was expected to be related to greater cardiovascular activation, in spite of its association with lower levels of self-reported negative affect. A link between security and lower levels of both self-reported negative affect and cardiovascular response was also predicted. Subjects completed self-report measures of attachment quality and negative affect (both state and trait) and had their cardiovascular responses (blood pressure and heart rate) monitored during tasks designed to evoke negative affect. For the tasks, subjects engaged in a Mental Arithmetic Task (MAT) and an Anger Recall Interview (ART) that required subjects to describe a time when they were angry at someone with whom they were close. The predictive validity of two alternate conceptualizations of attachment quality (traditional attachment styles versus quality of working models of self and other) was also compared. Results supported the primary hypothesis in that subjects with a dismissing avoidant attachment style had greater systolic blood pressure elevations than subjects with other attachment styles, particularly on the ARI. Dismissing subjects' reports of trait hostility and anxiety were lower than those of other insecure subjects and egual to secure subjects. Results also indicated that classifying subjects according to the traditional attachment style typology had greater predictive validity with respect to cardiovascular responding than classifying subjects according to working model dimensions. The results supported a link between quality of attachment, defensive coping, the tendency to experience negative affect, and its expression in cardiovascular arousal.

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