Psychology Commons^™

The Role Of Androgens In Life History Theories Of Attachment, Janani S. Sankar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Life history theories (LHTs) of attachment address how attachments to caregivers in infancy/childhood and to romantic partners in adulthood are used to negotiate mating and reproductive choices. Greater insecure-avoidant attachment has been suggested to be associated with the adoption of a low-investment, short-term reproductive strategy. The role of sex hormones, including the androgen testosterone (T), in the development of attachment-related reproductive strategies has been speculated in some LHTs. This research tested an integrated-LHT model of early environment, attachment, and reproductive strategies in men, using structural equation modeling. Androgen-related effects were hypothesized to occur prenatally and/or in adulthood, consistent with various …

Should'a Put A Ring On It: Investigating Adult Attachment, Relationship Status, Anxiety, Mindfulness, And Resilience In Romantic Relationships, Aileen M. Pidgeon, Alexandra Giufre

Aileen M. Pidgeon

This study aimed to investigate the predictive ability of relationship status, anxiety, mindfulness, and resilience in relation to the two orthogonal dimensions of adult attachment: attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance. 156 participants completed measures assessing relationship status, adult attachment, anxiety, mindfulness and resilience. The results showed that resilience and the relationship status of single significantly predicted attachment anxiety, whereas anxiety and being either single or divorced significantly predicted attachment avoidance. A significant mediating role of resilience in the prediction of attachment anxiety from being single was also observed. The main implications of this study provided preliminary support for the significant …

Adult Attachment Styles And Psychopathic Traits: A Relationship Mediated By Empathy And Emotional Regulation?, Chelsea Heim

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Psychopathic personality traits encompass an array of characteristics that emerge early in life and are influenced by insecure attachments between children and their parents. Disruptions in parent-child interactions also affect the development of empathy (Panfile & Laible, 2010) and emotion regulation (Waters, S. F., Virmani, E. A., Thompson, R. A., Meyer, S., Raikes, H. A. & Jochem, R., 2010), which contributes to lasting impairments in interpersonal working models about the self and others (Mack, Hackney & Pile, 2010). The interactions between psychopathy and insecure attachment, low levels of empathy, and the ability to regulate one’s emotions have been separately investigated …

Perceiving Behaviors That "Push A Partner's Buttons": Biased And Accurate Trigger Knowledge, Attachment, And Relationship Dynamics, Sarah C. E. Stanton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Two preregistered studies examined the interplay between directional bias and tracking accuracy in perceptions of relationship triggers, partner-enacted irksome or hurtful behaviors that elicit immediate negative emotions (e.g., clinginess). Study 1 identified 24 relationship triggers that the general public considered to be important for predicting relationship outcomes. Study 2 used recently developed statistical techniques to simultaneously test (a) whether partners were able to track the unique pattern of each other’s triggers and (b) if they overestimated or underestimated the extent to which a given behavior irked one another. Study 2 additionally explored attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance as potential moderating …

Brand Attachments And Social Feedback: The Moderating Effect Of Self-Concept Clarity, Lillianna Griggs

Honors Theses

Just as individuals can develop emotional attachments to other people, places and possessions, they can develop attachments to brands. In the current research, we investigated whether the trait, self-concept clarity (SCC), the extent to which the contents of one’s self concept are stable, consistent and recognizable to the individual, moderates the effect of social feedback on brand attachments. Participants were asked to indicate the brand they feel most attached to and then to indicate the extent of their brand attachment. They were then randomly assigned to receive positive or negative feedback about this brand and then re-report attachment to this …

The Relationship Of Prayer And Forgiveness To God Attachment, Romantic Attachment, And Relationship Satisfaction In Christian Married Adults: A Mediation Study, Joshua Michael Myers

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Research demonstrates that one's attachment to God accounts for unique variance in Relationship Satisfaction after accounting for the effects of Romantic Attachment. To date, only one study has sought to find a similar finding within a predominately married population. However, no study has attempted to partially explain this effect. This study seeks to answer the following research question: does Prayer and Forgiveness partially mediate the relationship between God Attachment and Relationship Satisfaction in a married population? It is hypothesized that Prayer and Forgiveness will partially mediate the relationship between God Attachment and Relationship Satisfaction in a married population. The study …

A Comparison Of Infant And Toddler Reactions To Strangers Who Have Similar Attributes To An Established Attachment Figure Vs. Strangers Who Have Different Attributes, Jessica Hamilton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A child's early attachment experiences can have a lasting impact on later development. Early attachment relationships often result in greater Social and cognitive skills, as well as better school performance (Peisner et al., 1999). For these reasons, it is important to address those components that may contribute to secure attachments with care givers in the child care setting. The current study looked at the reactions of infants and toddlers when presented with two previously unknown individuals: one who physically resembled an established caregiver with whom they had already established attachment and one who looked different from this caregiver. The study …

Romantic Relationship Quality And Technological Communication: Examining The Roles Of Attachment Representations And Rejection Sensitivity, Ron C. Bean

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

It is important to understand normal developmental patterns in romantic relationships, which develop within historical and cultural contexts and are influenced by social and technological advancement. One of the core features of developing attachment in romantic relationships is proximity to the attachment figure, for which technology may be a substitute. This study described patterns of computer-mediated communication (CMC) in young adult relationships. We hypothesized that core relational and personality features were linked to participants’ interpretations of CMC.

For this study, 97 college students provided overall scores for rejection sensitivity, insecure attachment styles, relationship satisfaction, and data about CMC with their …

The Relationships Between Television Viewing Behaviors, Attachment, Loneliness, Depression, And Psychological Well-Being, Katherine S. Wheeler

Honors College Theses

With the rise in streaming products such as Netflix and Hulu, there is a need to investigate the new trend of “binge-watching” television programs. Though this phenomenon has been pondered widely in the popular media sphere, little, if any, psychological research has investigated this phenomenon. The present study investigated college students’ television-viewing behaviors, including binge-watching television, television affinity, and television-viewing motivations, and assessed the relationships between these television-viewing behaviors and relationship attachment, loneliness, depression, and psychological well-being. Participants completed several measures, including the Experiences in Close Relationships: Revised (ECR-R), the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies …

Childhood Sexual Abuse And Identity Development: The Role Of Attachment And Self-Esteeem, Joel David Dukett

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to examine how childhood sexual abuse (CSA) influences identity development along with attachment and self-esteem. The participants included 208 first-year female undergraduate students from Illinois State University. Students were afforded the opportunity to receive extra credit for their participation and could enter into a random prize drawing. Participants completed a demographics questionnaire, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, The Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire, Dimensions of Identity Development Scale, and the Hot Topics Questionnaire which assesses history of CSA. Of the participants, 145 (69.7%) were in the non-abuse group and 63 (30.3%) were in the abuse group. …

"I Shall Not Fear:" Secure Attachment To G-D As A Buffer Against Anxiety, Peryl Agishtein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Religion has a long and mixed history in the field of psychology. Historically, some leading figures in the field viewed religion as a source of neuroses and poor mental health; others saw a more positive spiritual resource. Recently, empirical data on religion and mental health has proliferated. There is now consensus that religion is associated with lower depression. However, the link between religion and anxiety is less clear-cut. This paper proposes that a) religion can have exacerbating or alleviating effects on anxiety depending on which aspect of religion is being studied and b) the primary religious variable that affects anxiety …

Differential Parenting And Parents' Perceptions Of Their Children: Can Attachment Help Explain This Relationship?, Meagan Mcswiggan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research has suggested that the differential experiences of children in the same family were often greater than those of children across different families. Although studies identified potential moderators (e.g., age, gender) associated with differential parenting, there has been less investigation of mediators. The current study examined attachment as a mediator in the relationship between differential parenting and parents' perceptions of their children. As part of this study, 132 culturally diverse mothers with children who ranged in age from 2- to 10-years rated how differently they treat their own children, their children's attachment, their parenting characteristics, and their children's functioning (i.e., …

Mother-Infant Relationships In The Nicu: A Multiple Case Study Approach, Ilona Helin

Dissertations

Parent-child relationships consist of both external and internal components. The external component is the behavioral interaction between mother and child, while the internal components are expectations each member of the dyad has for the both the relationship and of the other partner. These expectations are called internal working models (IWMs) and are blueprints that have been developed from an individual’s childhood experience of sensitive or insensitive parenting. A mother’s IWMs influence how she perceives her child, her relationship with her child and herself as a mother, the sensitivity of her caregiving, and ultimately her child’s IWM of him or her …

Stress Exposure, Secure Base Scriptedness, Psychosocial Needs Satisfaction And Behavioral Problems Among At-Risk Urban Adolescents, Kelsey Sala-Hamrick

Wayne State University Theses

The adolescent period of development is associated with increases in internalizing, externalizing, and other problem behaviors which are thought to be exacerbated by cumulative risk factors associated with environmental disadvantage. Previous research has demonstrated the associations between both secure attachment and psychosocial needs satisfaction with decreases in behavior problems; however, few studies have examined the relative effects of environmental stress exposure, attachment security and psychosocial needs satisfaction on adolescent behavioral problems. Therefore, this study recruited 106 environmentally at-risk, socioeconomically disadvantaged sample of urban adolescents and their caregivers from Detroit, MI in order to: (1) describe the levels of environmental disadvantage …

Adult Attachment And Relationship Satisfaction Among Men Who Experienced Childhood Abuse, Selisha Nelson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Experiences of childhood physical and sexual abuse among men have not been sufficiently studied because many men are not forthcoming about experiences of abuse. This abuse is linked to aggressive behaviors, difficulty developing and maintaining close relationships, and various psychological disorders. Current research has not fully examined relationships between childhood abuse, adult attachment, and levels of relationship satisfaction among men. The purpose of this nonexperimental quantitative study was to evaluate the relationship between adult attachment as measured by the Relationship Scales Questionnaire and relationship satisfaction as measured by the Couples Satisfaction Index among men abused during childhood. Bowlby's theory of …

Lost Or Fond? Effects Of Nostalgia On Sad Mood Recovery Vary By Attachment Insecurity, Sarah R. Cavanagh, Ryan J. Glode, Philipp C. Opitz

Psychology Department Faculty Works

Nostalgia involves a fond recollection of people and events lost to time. Growing evidence indicates that nostalgia may ameliorate negative affective states such as loneliness and boredom. However, the effect of nostalgia on sadness is unknown, and there is little research on how social connectedness might impact nostalgia's effects. Grounded in a theoretical framework whereby people with lower levels of attachment insecurity benefit more from nostalgia, we exposed participants to a mortality-related sad mood and then randomly assigned them to reflect on a nostalgic or an ordinary event memory. We examined changes in mood and electrodermal activity (EDA) and found …

Attachment, Anxiety, And Depression: A Study Of Women In Residential Treatment With Their Children At The Susan B. Anthony Recovery Center (Sbarc) (1995-2010), Gary Miles Forrest

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

The Susan B. Anthony Recovery Center (SBARC) in Pembroke Pines, Florida is a residential center where women live with their children while receiving treatment for a variety of co-occurring substance abuse and mental health issues and while participating in mandatory parenting classes. Unlike most women's residential treatment centers, which address only the woman and her problems, SBARC treats the mother-infant/child dyad. I designed and created a database to examine the data previously available only in the paper client records of over 800 women who received treatment at SBARC from 1995 through 2010 in a previous project. This nonexperimental, retrospective explanatory …

Secure Base Scriptedness, Psychological Health And Wellbeing In Urban Youth, Patricia Richardson

Wayne State University Theses

This study examined the empirical utility of the Attachment Script Assessment (ASA), a novel indicator of adolescent secure base script knowledge, with socioeconomically disadvantaged, African-American youth. It was hypothesized that secure base knowledge would buffer the effect of trauma exposure on youth emotional and behavioral problems. The sample included 83 adolescent (ages 13-18) caregiver dyads that participated in a larger study examining adolescent health behaviors. Results revealed preliminary empirical support for the utility of the ASA with this sample, as evidenced by expected inverse correlations with another well-established measure of attachment. Results indicated that there was not sufficient evidence to …

An Attachment Style Based Experimental Design To Maximize Dog Adoption Success, Claire Weinman

Senior Projects Fall 2015

Evolution and domestication have brought dogs very close to humans. Research has found numerous behavioral, cognitive, neurological, and physiological similarities between the two species. Additional research has found that humans and dogs can share cross-species attachments that are comparable to mother-infant attachments. Furthermore, attachment styles in dogs are classified the same way they are in children. The statistics on the vast amount of dogs in animal shelters, too many of which are being senselessly killed, are shocking. I propose a two-part study that first assesses which attachment style pairings are most successful and which are unsuccessful based on measurements of …

Patterns And Predictors Of Stability And Change In Representations Of Romantic Relationships In Adolescence And Young Adulthood, Claire Stephenson Flansburg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research on the stability of attachment representations across the lifespan has led to two alternative perspectives: the prototype and revisionist perspectives (Fraley, 2002). The prototype perspective posits that there is a stable factor underlying fluctuations in representations and the revisionist perspective argues that there is no inherently stable factor. The current study employed a latent trait-state model to investigate these alternative models of stability and change in representations of romantic relationships in adolescence and young adulthood. The study also sought to identify individual characteristics and relationship experiences that are associated with changes in representations. In a sample of 200 participants, …

Challenges Of Child Trauma On Adoptive Families' Social And Emotional System, Jacqueline Yvonne Ford

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Adoption-focused psychoeducation is deemed essential in maintaining the permanency of traumatized children within a new family unit. However, adoptive parents of traumatized children struggle to find training to address their unique concerns. Guided by the lens of psychodynamic theory, the purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges faced by adoptive families of traumatized children. Special focus was placed on the social and emotional relationships of the adoptive parents of traumatized children, to identify the realistic expectations towards attachment from the families' perspectives. Fifteen families were randomly selected to participate in this study from a group of 30 parents …

Secure-Base Caregiving And Adult Attachment Development Within The Client-Psychotherapist Relationship, Dennis A. Weeks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Recent studies have shown significant improvements in the attachment security of adult therapy clients during therapy, supporting Bowlby's theory that such improvement can be influenced by secure-base caregiving provided by mentors such as therapists. However, because these studies did not measure the secure-base variable, its relationship to client attachment development remains unknown. The present study is the first to evaluate that relationship by measuring clients' pre and posttherapy attachment security using the Relationship Scales Questionnaire and therapists' secure-base caregiving using the Client Attachment to Therapist and Working Alliance Inventory, Short Form. Of 21 initially insecure client participants, 17 experienced high …

Social Support As A Mediator Between Attachment And Relapse In Women, Jamie Lynne Wong

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Prescription pain medication abuse is a developing social problem in the United States. This quantitative study, grounded in attachment theory, examined relationships between attachment, perceived social support, and relapse. It was hypothesized that significant relationships existed between (a) attachment dimensions and relapse and (b) perceived social support and relapse. A further hypothesis was that perceived social support was a mediator in the relationship between attachment and relapse. Participants were 69 adult females, each of whom completed a demographic questionnaire; the Advanced Warning of Relapse (AWARE) Questionnaire; the Experiences in Close Relationships, Revised (ECR-R); and the Personal Resource Questionnaire (PRQ). A …

The Effect Of Healing Touch Therapy For Youth Diagnosed With Reactive Attachment Disorder, Kelli Stiles

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Reactive attachment disorder (RAD), a disorder marked by a severe disruption in developmental attachment, is most often diagnosed in youth who have received substandard or negligent care from their primary caregiver. Such youth have increased risk of behavioral and emotional issues as well as future relationship problems; they generally do not respond to traditional evidence-based practices of therapy. The present study examined the use of the biofield energy practice of Healing Touch (HT) as a viable therapeutic option for improved quality of life for youth diagnosed with RAD. A quantitative, quasi-experimental research study using secondary data was conducted. Eligible participants …

Lived Experiences Of Military Personnel Reintegrating With Their Preschool Aged Children, Rob Atchison

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have indicated that school-aged children with a caregiver who had been deployed were more likely to exhibit emotional and behavioral problems. These problems were impacted by the ability of the parent at home to manage emotions so as to utilize appropriate parenting skills with the child. However, there remained an important gap in the literature regarding the experiences of the military personnel reintegrating with their preschool aged child. Therefore, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to address the experiences of military caregivers with their preschool-aged children through semistructured interviews to better understand the variables that impacted the ability …

Resonating Personality Types For Couples: An Enneagram Application For Predicting Marital Satisfaction, Douglas George Carpenter

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over 50% of marriages in the United States end in divorce. Researchers have attempted to identify factors that help marriages endure by studying personality, attachment styles, and gender. However, few researchers have examined how dyadic interactions of personality types and attachment types influence marital satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of enneagram personality types on marital satisfaction within 3 groups of attachment types: couples who (a) both demonstrate a secure attachment style, (b) contain one member who demonstrates an insecure attachment style and the other who demonstrates a secure attachment style, and (c) both demonstrate …

Supervisee Avoidant Attachment And Supervisors' Use Of Relational Behavior : Contributions To The Working Alliance, Katharine Suzanne Shaffer

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Supervision research has demonstrated the importance of a strong supervisory working alliance in the context of clinical training. However, little is known about what specifically occurs in clinical supervision that contributes to a strong supervisory working alliance. The present study of counselor trainees was designed to investigate relations among their avoidant attachment style, perceptions of relational behaviors used by their supervisors in the most recent supervision session, and the supervisory working alliance. Competing hypotheses stated that greater use of relational behavior on the part of supervisors would either mediate or moderate the inverse relationship between trainees' avoidant attachment style and …

Growth Potential In Relationships: A Promotion-Focus Perspective, Amanda E. Kohler, Justin Cavallo

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Relationship research has long emphasized the importance of felt security for interpersonal wellbeing, but has focused less on how opportunities for growth influence relationship well-being. The present research investigates whether people’s motivational states may influence the extent to which people value growth in their romantic relationships. Drawing on regulatory focus theory, which distinguishes between promotion (concerned with advancement) and prevention (concerned with security) self-regulatory orientations, it was hypothesized that promotion-focused individuals would be more satisfied with relationships that offered greater opportunity for growth than with those that offered greater opportunity for security. In three experimental studies, participants evaluated others’ (Study …

Short-Term Attachment Outcomes Of Infants In The Child Welfare System, Tracy Markowitz

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Children with prenatal substance exposure are often born into families of low socio-economic status, low educational level, and with restricted access to health services. Pregnant substance-using mothers tend to reject, neglect, and generally misattune to their infant children. These environmental risk factors increase the likelihood of negative developmental outcomes such as poor academic performance, externalizing behaviors, and an insecure attachment style. In compliance with the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act and the Adoption and Safe Families Act, Child Welfare Services often places at-risk infants into traditional or kinship foster care placements. This study looked at how placement type and …

Psychopathy And Attachment: The Effect Of Security Priming On Psychopathy In A College Student Sample, Blake D. Herd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Psychopathy has been defined as a pattern of negative behaviors, social interactions, and affective features, including impoverishment of emotion, unethical and manipulative actions, and impulsivity (Neumann & Hare, 2008). It is estimated that between 15 to 30 percent of incarcerated adults meet the criteria for psychopathy (Hare, 1991, 1996; Salekin, Rogers, Ustad, & Sewell, 1998). Because psychopathy is linked with deviant behaviors and a significant portion of incarcerated adults are high in psychopathy, methods of reducing psychopathy are needed. The current longitudinal study sought to reduce state psychopathy levels through secure attachment priming. It was first hypothesized that the mean …