The Relationship Between Young Adult Attachment And Loneliness Factors With Their Childhood Social Media Usage Patterns, Kenneth Walter Mark

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Social media use has become an integral and often ignored part of children’s lives because it is rationalized not to be detrimental to their future development. However, childhood social media use was associated with insecure attachment styles and possible loneliness issues emerging in young adulthood. Past research examined social media use and secular attachment in the present only, without examining spiritual attachment or loneliness levels. This is the first research study to explore longitudinally the relationship between past childhood social media use and current young adult (aged 18-24) secular attachment, spiritual attachment, and loneliness levels. The population (N = 149) …

Marital Satisfaction And Dissatisfaction Among Ghanaians, Esther Malm, Mabel Oti-Boadi, Nana Ama Adom-Boakye Kanyi, Aba Andah

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

This study examined factors associated with marital satisfaction/dissatisfaction among Ghanaian couples living in Ghana and abroad. Using a correlational design, data from a convenience sample of 231 married participants from Ghana and abroad were collected via an online survey. Results from regression analyses revealed that four positive behaviors - affection, companionship, commitment to the family, financial support - and one negative behavior, beatings/slaps, were significantly associated with marital satisfaction. Three negative behaviors - annoying habits, selfishness, and disrespect - were significantly associated with marital dissatisfaction. Participants in Ghana reported significantly higher rates of beatings in marriage compared to those abroad. …

Impact Of Immigration Parent-Child Separation Policies On Children’S Attachment Experiences, Daisy Casasnovas

Dissertations

This critical literature review (CRP) project explores the consequences of child-parent separation by deportation laws. Considering the number of Latinx immigrant families immigrating to the United States, this review focused on how the unexpected separation by deportation impacted immigrant families and how these separations affect their children’s development, attachment style, and overall well-being. The review explored the short- and long-term consequences for immigrant children and their families, including children who are U.S.-born and remain in the country without their parents. Results from the review indicate an extensive and significant impact on attachment style and overall developmental impairments. The unexpected separation …

Parental Attachment And Compassion As Predictors Of Distress Disclosure Among Young Adults, Ellie N. Wilde

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Distress disclosure is associated with perceived social support, so it is important to understand what supports our ability to disclose distress. This study examined relationships between distress disclosure, fear of others’ compassion, parental attachment, self-compassion, and perceived social support among young adults. I expected young adults with stronger parental attachment security to report greater capacity for distress disclosure and that this relationship would be mediated by fear of others’ compassion. I expected trait self-compassion to moderate relationships between these variables on all paths of the mediation, such that higher self-compassion would reduce the adverse impact of insecure parental attachment on …

Toddler Characteristics And Attention, Lani A. Taylor

Research Psychology Theses

Abstract

Individual differences have become increasingly relevant when addressing variability across child development. Literature bears evidence that these differences may impact a toddler’s ability to respond to Joint Attention (JA). JA refers to a communicative gaze and pointing between a child and another individual. JA has been recognized as being a critical milestone, to the formation and cultivation of shared awareness and attention of an event or object. JA is a skill that is critical to the development of future language acquisition (Vaughan Van Hecke et al., 2007). The aim of this study is to measure whether child characteristics, such …

Impact Of Parental Substance Misuse On Attachment In Young Adults: A Qualitative Approach, Susan E. Hardman

Dissertations, 2020-current

This study examined the impact of parental substance misuse on young adult development and relationships by interviewing young adults about their experience being raised by a parent who misused substances. A qualitative design based on constructivist grounded theory and informed by constructs from attachment theory was used. Participants consisted of 10 young adults, ages 18-26, who endorsed being raised by a parent who misused substances. The interview questions developed for the study were informed by a measure of adult attachment. Analysis of the data included identification of emergent categories/themes as well as a priori constructs from attachment theory (safe haven, …

Exploring The Effects Of Witnessing Family Violence In Childhood Among South Asians In America, Chiroshri Bhattacharjee

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Incidents of domestic violence and its transgenerational impact within the South Asian community, although prevalent, are often dismissed as peripheral concerns due to various sociocultural and internalized psychological factors . This study explored the long-term effects of witnessing three types of interparental violence (psychological aggression, physical aggression, and injury) on participants’ self-esteem, attachment style, and conflict resolution abilities as adults. Cultural values conflict unique to the South Asian American community was used as a moderator to assess the relationship between participants’ self-esteem and degree of violence witnessed. Eighty-seven self-identified South Asian American women (age range = 20–40 years, M = …

What Makes A Good Relationship? Examining The Role Of Psychological Needs On Relationship Satisfaction Moderated By Attachment, Kristin Rutland

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Objective: The current study examined the relative importance of psychological needs as predictors of relationship satisfaction and how differences across dimensions of adult attachment moderate these relationships. Through the examination of psychological needs, relationship satisfaction, and attachment questionnaires, it was predicted that psychological needs predict relationship satisfaction differently across the attachment spectrum, with attachment serving as a moderator of these associations.

Method: Data was collected from online crowd sourcing software, Amazon Mechanical Turk (Mturk). There were one hundred and fourteen participants, ranging from 18-78 years of age (M = 27.39, SD = 11.21), who were currently involved in a romantic …

The Antagonistic Tetrad And Romantic Attachment Styles, Kayli H. Wrenn

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Both attachment styles and personality traits are characterized by enduring patterns of inner experience and behaviors. There are four primary attachment styles: secure, anxious, avoidant, and disorganized. In adult romantic relationships, attachment styles are influenced by the attachment behavioral system, caregiving system, and sexual/reproductive system. In comparison, the Antagonistic Tetrad is a constellation of four overlapping but distinct personality constructs: Machiavellianism, grandiose narcissism, psychopathy, and everyday sadism. These four traits include interpersonal features such as a lack of empathy, aggressiveness, and manipulation. Using a regression-based approach, this research study examined the associations between the Antagonistic Tetrad, adult romantic attachment styles, …

Testing A Contextual Framework Of Intimate Partner Violence In Young Adults, Phoebe Tabb Hitson

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Bell and Naugle (2008) proposed a comprehensive theoretical framework that includes multiple variables hypothesized to be involved in intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration, including distal and proximal variables. The current study (1) assessed the extent to which childhood physical abuse victimization, interparental violence, insecure attachment, accepting beliefs about violence, sexism, stress, alcohol and marijuana use, relationship satisfaction, emotion regulation, and anger management were associated with physical IPV perpetration; (2) determined whether some of these variables influenced physical IPV perpetration more than others; (3) explored the mediation of distal variables by more proximal variables in predicting physical IPV perpetration; and (4) …

Measurement Invariance Of Relationship Intimacy And Attachment Across Hispanic And Non-Hispanic White College Women, Kristen N. Vitek

Psychology ETDs

The study of relationship intimacy and attachment has gained increasingly greater attention within the field. As such, researchers have developed numerous self-report measures of relationship intimacy and attachment. However, a majority of such measures have been developed and validated with White, Western populations, which calls into question the validity of such measures when used with minority populations. One way to establish validity of measures is to test for measurement invariance; namely, that the measures assess the same constructs across groups. The focus of this study was to test the measurement invariance of two commonly used measures of relationship intimacy, the …

Influences On The Attachment Style Of Deaf Adults With Hearing Parents, Ellen Schaefer-Salins

JADARA

The current study explored variables that could contribute to the development of a secure or insecure attachment style of 15 deaf adults between the ages of 30 and 50 with hearing parents. There is a paucity of information on the relationship of deaf adults to their hearing parent and how that relationship may influence attachment. For the current study, quantitative methods were used to explore both childhood and adulthood variables, such as type of communication used with parents, type and level of schooling, and current attachment style. Variables also studied include age, gender, race, birth order, marital status, the hearing …

Differences In Attachment, Resilience, And Negative Affect In Non-Treatment-Seeking And Treatment-Seeking Ems Professionals, Jose Carbajal, Warren Ponder, Lauren Malthaner, Kathryn Shahan, Katelyn Jetelina, Jeanine Galusha, Donna Schuman

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Emergency medical service (EMS) professionals have a stressful vocation, inarguably worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, which affects their mental health and makes them a vulnerable population warranting further study. However, to date, no published research has compared non-treatment and treatment-seeking EMS professionals in the same greater metropolitan area. In this study, we examined differences and similarities among the non-treatment-seeking EMS professionals (n = 57) from a local EMS agency and treatment-seeking EMS personnel (n = 53) from a non-profit community treatment center on six assessment instruments that measure attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, resilience, depression, generalized anxiety, posttraumatic stress …

The Neurobiology Of The Healing Arts: Expressive Arts Therapy As An Effective Treatment For Adults Diagnosed With Complex Ptsd Due To Complex Trauma In Childhood: A Literature Review, Cheryl Ratliff

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Empirically based therapies for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been found to be less effective in treating more severe trauma presentations such as complex PTSD (CPTSD). Neurobiological investigation provides a framework for examining the physical and psychological effects of trauma on brain and nerve structures and provides insight into how to effectively treat CPTSD. This literature review examined symptomology of CPTSD resulting from complex trauma in childhood, neurobiological effects of trauma and their implications for treatment, and the efficacy of the current treatment models, primarily those of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), narrative exposure therapy (NET), and somatic psychotherapies. …

Using Narrative Theory As A Process-Oriented Exploration Of Attachment: The Development Of A Method In Art Therapy, Taylor Saunders

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Establishing a sense of psychological and emotional safety and security is essential within the therapeutic workspace for individuals to begin growth toward identified goals. Beginning in early childhood and developing throughout their lifespan, people build expectations of safety and security from their experiences of nurture or lack thereof. These early experiences form internal working models (IWM), which influence how individuals expect interpersonal relationships to develop; these patterns form attachment styles. Understanding someone’s attachment style is a way mental health professionals may better understand a client from a more holistic perspective. While there is much research in identifying and assessing a …

A Life Lived With Schizophrenia: When Mother’S Love Is Kept In The Dark Exploring Maternal Communication And Attachment Organization In Families With Schizophrenia, Myrsini Stefanidou Marini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, research into the transgenerational transmission of attachment styles has shown that a mother’sattachment style often predicts the attachment style of her infant. Fearsome parental behavior has been found to predict disorganized attachment in infants, which is further associated with a range of mental health disturbances in adolescence. Furthermore, regular patterns of disturbed communication between mother and child have also been found to lead to ‘schizophrenic’ thinking and behavior in the child’s life. While acknowledging that genetic and other biological factors contribute to the emergence of schizophrenia, this study focused on disorganized attachment and disturbed communication between mother …

Relational Variables Associated With Self-Reported Political Idealogy, Dalton Young

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

This dissertation examined the relationship between self-reported political ideology and the relational variables of attachment, shame, and grace. Previous research on political ideology has focused on conservatism, as well as morality and personality differences across the political spectrum. This study combined two samples of 155 adult participants gathered through Qualtrics and 79 undergraduate students. Each participant completed a demographics questionnaire, Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ; Feeney et al., 1994), Dimensions of Grace Scale (DGS; Bufford et al., 2017), Duke University Religion Index (DUREL; Koenig et al., 1997), and Internalized Shame Scale (ISS; Cook, 1988). Additionally, 19 of the undergraduate students completed …

Gratitude, Spirituality, And Attachment To God, Jessica Guajardo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Aspects of positive psychology, such as gratitude, have been widely studied to show improvements in one’s overall perception of their well-being. Similarly, religion/spirituality is a common avenue that is sought to find peace and comfort during difficult circumstances in the hope of increasing their subjective well-being and perceived meaning in life. This study seeks to explore if gratitude to God could affect one’s spiritual well-being in a similar fashion to how gratitude may improve other aspects of an individual’s well-being. Particularly, this study explores if divine gratitude mediates the relationship between spiritual well-being and attachment to God. Although most initial …

The Effects Of Therapist Attachment On The Process And Outcome Of Psychotherapy, Kristin Elizabeth Roberts

Dissertations

Researchers have demonstrated that therapist attachment is associated with therapeutic relationships and client outcomes (Steel et al., 2018). Yet, results have varied and, at times, seemed contradictory. This study explores how therapist attachment might influence the working alliance and symptom change throughout psychotherapy and uses the recently validated, transcript-based Therapist Attunement Scales (TASc; Talia & Muzi, 2017). The TASc was developed to measure in-session attachment-related verbal behavior. The third session from each pair of 23 therapists-in-training and their clients was transcribed and coded. Clients completed the OQ-45.2 and the Working Alliance Inventory prior to each session.

Growth curve modeling was …

Examining The Relationship Between Therapists’ Attachment-Related Characteristics And The Process And Outcome Of Psychotherapy, Char M. Houben

Dissertations

Although psychotherapy researchers have gleaned greater understanding about how client attachment classifications influence the outcome of psychotherapy, relatively few studies have investigated therapists’ effects and have yielded inconclusive results (Steel et al., 2018). In the current study, we investigated how therapist attachment affects changes in the working alliance and client psychological distress over a course of psychotherapy treatment. We evaluated attachment in a sample of 23 therapist trainees from a university-based training clinic in the U.S. with the recently validated, transcript-based Therapist Attunement Scales (TASc; Talia & Muzi, 2017), which measures attunement by moment-to-moment discursive markers from a single psychotherapy …

Self-Compassion Mediates The Link Between Attachment Security And Intimate Relationship Quality For Couples Navigating Pregnancy, Tuyen Huynh, Eric Phillips, Rebecca L. Brock

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Millions of couples navigate the transition from pregnancy to postpartum in a given year, and this period of change and adjustment in the family is associated with elevated risk for intimate relationship dysfunction. Self-compassion has the potential to promote skills that are essential for healthy adaptation (e.g., emotion regulation, greater openness and flexibility, more awareness of the needs of oneself and one’s partner). The overarching goal of the present study was to investigate the role of self-compassion in intimate relationship quality during pregnancy. A sample of 159 couples completed semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. Parents engaging in more compassionate self-responding during …

Not So Different As Cats And Dogs: Companionship During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Shelly Volsche, Elizabeth Johnson

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

COVID- 19 lockdown provided a unique, in situ opportunity to probe caretaker experiences of living with companion animals during a stressful event. We launched an online survey in the United States that included standard demographic questions, questions related to household structures, and 25 Likert scale questions that probed perceptions of whether and how respondents’ relationships changed during social isolation. This paper uses a subset of that data specific to dog and cat guardians. A principal components analysis and Mann-Whitney U test returned no significant differences between cat and dog guardians on three scales (Scale 1: Psychological Well-being, Scale 2: …

Anxious For Answers: A Behavioral Approach To Anxiety In The Home, Kassidy Bowen

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

Children who have one or more parents with anxiety disorders are 76% more likely to develop anxiety disorders themselves (Hudson et al., 2014). With this correlation in mind, many studies aim to improve the treatment outcomes of children in such circumstances. However, the involvement of caregivers with anxiety disorders in the treatment of their children, specifically with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), does not always decrease the effects of anxiety on their children (Breinholst et al., 2012). Additionally, child CBT may not reduce stress-inducing factors originating from parental responses in the home (Metz et al., 2018). Parental tendencies that are common …

Gender, Attachment Patterns, And Mental Representations Of Parents And Self As Predictors Of Early Adolescents’ Trauma Symptoms, Bryan Blum

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

Gender, attachment patterns and mental representations of close relationships have not previously been used to predict trauma symptomatology in early adolescents. In this study, 109 eighth grade students ages 12-13 (44% female) were recruited from a private Manhattan middle school for academically advantaged, ethnically diverse students. The study took place over the course of four years, with each new group of participants providing data in September of their eighth grade year. Participants reported on trauma symptoms and the affective valence of their mental representations of self and parents, and school staff reported on participants’ attachment patterns. While boys reported more …

Breaking The Cycle Of Violence: Parenting As A Protective Factor, Melanie Berry

Selected Full-Text Master Theses 2021-

There is an abundance of research that explore risk factors that demonstrate the cycle of violence. This study sought to highlight protective factors and why some do not perpetuate the cycle of violence. Participants consisted of 578 undergraduate males and females. Through the use archival data from several questionnaires, the study sought to learn if parental care and overprotection can break the cycle of violence. Moreover, it was hypothesized that (1) There will be a significant negative relationship between parental care and adult violence (2) There will be a significant positive relationship between insecure attachment and adult violence (3) There …

Trauma Of The Past: The Impact Of Adverse Childhood Experiences On Adult Attachment, Money Beliefs And Behaviors, And Financial Transparency, D.Bruce Ross, Ed Coambs, Emily Johnson

Journal of Financial Therapy

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have a strong, lasting impact on our mental and relational outcomes as adults. They may also impact how we address financial beliefs and behaviors. The current study utilizes 500 participants from Amazon MTurk and structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the relationships between ACEs and relational financial transparency behaviors through attachment style and money beliefs and behaviors. Findings indicated significant direct and indirect associations across these pathways, particularly for experiences of reported neglect, verbal, and sexual abuse on less security in adult attachment styles. In turn, insecure attachment styles were linked to increased maladaptive financial …

Virtual Learning And Its Impact On Belonging And Mental Health, Chelsey Highley

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examined virtual learning and the link between sense of belonging and mental health. Specifically, this qualitative study assessed the perceptions and opinions of 15 high school students from a rural high school setting who participated in virtual learning for at least one semester during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research questions that guided this study were: (a) How did high school students experience belongingness with teachers and peers when engaged in virtual learning; and (b) How did high school students experience mental health issues during virtual learning? The data was collected via individual interviews and analyzed. The category emerging …

Attachment Anxiety And Avoidance Predict Postnatal Partner Support Through Impaired Affective Communication, Frances C. Calkins, Rebecca L. Brock

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to investigate perceived difficulties in affective communication as a key mechanism linking attachment anxiety and avoidance during pregnancy to the quality of postpartum support received by partners.

Background: During the postpartum period, partner support has the potential to promote family well-being by mitigating stress related to changes experienced during this transition. Attachment security is one of the most robust predictors of intimate relationship processes and impacts partner communication and support dynamics.

Method: Heterosexual couples (N = 159) completed surveys and semi-structured interviews to obtain measures of attachment security, perceived difficulties in …

Clinical Interventions For Developmental Trauma Disorder: How Evidence-Based Practice And Attachment Theory Can Inform Therapeutic Approach, Victoria Deveau

DSW Capstone Projects

Approximately two-thirds of U.S. children and adolescents report having experienced a traumatic event. A posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis requires that the youth has directly experienced a traumatic event, witnessed a traumatic event occur to others, or learned that a traumatic event has occurred to someone close. The clinician is in a diagnostic quandary, however, when the youth presents with the PTSD hallmarks of hyperarousal, avoidance, and emotional dysregulation, in absence of such life experiences. The answer to this quandary lies in an understanding of developmental trauma disorder (DTD). Clinical interventions for DTD are the focus of this capstone.

Product …

Therapist Self-Reported Attachment Organization And Countertransference Responses To Psychotherapy Clients, Morgan Janay Pell

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Therapists experience thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in response to their clients, which are sometimes referred to as countertransference. Such responses may be influenced by the therapist’s personal history, including the quality of their attachment experiences. Research has demonstrated that adult attachment organizations influence a person’s cognitive, behavioral, and affective responses toward close others, thus providing a useful framework for understanding some countertransference experiences of therapists. This quantitative study sought to add to the existing literature by examining the relationship between therapist self-reported attachment organization and countertransference responses to clients. Seventy-three therapists participated in this study, including licensed psychologists, doctorate-level psychologists, …