Upload
franklin-adams
View
214
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Romantic attachment and responses to relationship conflict:
Connections and complexities
Judith A. Feeney
Attachment across the lifespan
Key tenets:
Attachment bonds provide comfort and security
Romantic love can be conceptualised as an attachment process
Relational experiences in the formative years produce relatively long-lasting differences in relationship styles
Attachment across the lifespan
Individual differences in attachment avoidance and anxiety
reflect affect regulation strategies
are strongest in stressful conditions
- of the individual
- of the environment
- of the attachment relationship (e.g., conflict)
Background
Four types of studies of
attachment and conflict
1. PhD studies:Samples of individuals;longitudinal sample of newly-weds
2. Collaborations with Pat Noller: Longitudinal studies of marriage and family; multi-method; multiple reporters
Background
Four types of studies (cont)
3. Relational transitions:
parenthood; hurtful events;
separation; early adoption
4. Recent work with student cohorts:
sampling; vignette method; studying relational power; etc.
Overview of talk: 7 themes Attachment dimensions as correlates of
responses to couple conflict
Extension: Dyadic data
Attachment, parenthood and conflict Attachment and relational outcomes:
responses to conflict as mediators
Measurement: 2 factors; 5 factors?
Insiders’ insights
Integration and conclusions
1. Attachment dimensions as correlates of responses to couple conflict
Sample study:
conflict interactions in dating couples, using Raush’s improvisation scenes
data collected from:
- ‘insiders’ (expectations, perceptions)
- ‘outsiders’ (affect; behaviour)
FindingsInsider data: widespread effects of attachment on expectations and perceptions
Outsider data: attachment effects for partner-distancing (relationship conflict) only
affect (e.g., avoidance hostility)
verbal behavior (e.g., anxiety coercion)
nonverbal involvement (e.g., avoidance, anxiety low touch)
Findings emerging across studies
Attachment anxiety Attachment avoidance
Frequency of conflict Higher frequency (diaries)
Involvement in couple interactions
Less involvement (diaries; observation)
Less involvement (diaries)
Conflict strategies Less mutual negotiation (questionnaires)More destructive process (questionnaires)More domination and coercion (across all methods)
Less mutual negotiation (questionnaires)Less partner recognition (diaries)Less reasoning (observation)Less disclosure (diaries, questionnaires)
Nonverbal accuracy Less accuracy for positive messages
Less accuracy for negative messages
Conflict-related outcomes
Less communication satisfaction (diaries)More ongoing hurt and distress (questionnaires)
Less communication satisfaction (diaries)
2. Extension: Dyadic data
Recognised from outset by Hazan and Shaver (1987)
Re-analysis of data from Young Couples Study
Alerted by qualitative data:
His comments
Her comments
Quantitative findings
Most consistent finding: Hs’ anxiety by Ws’ anxiety:
Figure: conflict avoidance
But pattern varied in form (e.g., coercion highest for anxious wives with non-anxious husbands)
APIM studies
1. Study of spousal reactivity, assessed via:
Spousal behaviour (interaction records)
Ratings of satisfaction (daily; and QMI)
Predicting negative spouse behaviour:
Avoidance (actor); Anxiety (actor; partner)
Predicting satisfaction: Anxiety (actor; partner)
Predicting ‘reactivity’ (two methods):
higher for insecure husbands and wives
(controlling for negativity of behaviour)
APIM studies
2. Study of disclosure (with Bradford)
Multi-method study of long-term dating couples
Sample DV: emotional tone of daily conversations (diary reports)
Disclosure
Predictors of emotional tone:
actors’ anxiety partners’ anxiety gender by partners’ anxiety by partners’ avoidance:
- female partners high on both scales - male partners low on both scales
3. Attachment, parenthood and conflict
(i) Study of new parenthood
Overview:
Transition and comparison couples;three main assessment points;questionnaires and interviews
At 3 months post-birth, daily diary records tapping involvement in household and baby-care tasks
a) Conflict over childcare
Hs attachment anxiety (T1)
Dissatisfaction with baby care (daily diaries)
H wants W to do less
W wants H to do more
Increases (at T3) in:Hs stress and attachment anxietyWs depression, stress, anxiety, and relationship dissatisfaction
b) Postnatal depression
Ws attachment anxiety (T1);
Ws attachment anxiety x Hs compulsive care
Ws depression (T2) (transition group only)
Increases (T3) in:
Ws attachment avoidance, stress
Hs attachment anxiety, general anxiety, and relationship dissatisfaction
(ii) Attachment and parenting adolescents
Cross-generational links:mothers, fathers, adolescents rated
- own attachment
- parents’ conflict behaviour with offspring problem-solving attack avoidance
Adolescents also rated their own loneliness.
Generational stake hypothesis: parents view parental actions more positively than offspring
Attachment and generational differences
Dependent variable: Discrepant perception of conflict behaviour
Predictive measure of attachment anxiety
Paternal problem-solving Paternal anxiety
Maternal problem-solving Maternal anxiety
Maternal avoidance Maternal anxietyOffspring anxiety
Maternal attack Maternal anxietyOffspring anxiety
Attachment and parenting adolescents
Other findings from this study:
parental insecurity
more parental attack, less problem-solving
offspring insecurity and loneliness
(Findings robust across reporter of conflict behaviour.)
4. Attachment and relational outcomes: responses to conflict as mediators
Growing evidence of mediators between insecurity and dissatisfaction:
Negative affectivity Attributional style Problems with conflict resolution Deficits in emotional expressivity Maladaptive patterns of coping Lack of nurturance Lack of respect for partner Negative perceptions of partner’s support
(Some effects may be specific to attachment dimension.)
Hurtful events: Mediated effects on couple bond
Perceived lack of
remorse
Perceived lack of
remorse
Destructive behaviour (-ve)
Destructive behaviour (-ve)
AvoidanceAvoidance
Ongoing problemsOngoing problems
Studies with student cohorts
Mediated effects of attachment anxiety include:
responsibility causal
attributions attributions
perceived lack of relational power
less problem-solving more verbal attack
Double mediation
Karantzas et al. (BJP):
Based on theory and research: working models shape relational beliefs, attitudes and perceptions;in turn, these shape dyadic processes.
5. Measuring attachment
ASQ, links between 2 and 5 factors:
Anxiety Avoidance
Preoccupation Discomfort
Need for approval Relationships
Confidence (-ve) as secondary
(Karantzas et al, 2010: nested factor model)
Attachment and clinical issues: Fossati et al.
BPD, measure of aggressiveness:
✔ related to Preoccupation
✗ not related to Need for approval
Impulsive aggression:
✔ related to Preoccupation
✗ not related to Need for approval
✔ related to Relationships as secondary
✗ not related to Discomfort
6. Insiders’ insights
Psychological constructs should be reflected in popular culture and thought.
Qualitative data from lay persons are often powerful and eloquent.
Insiders’ insights
My partner is extremely affectionate, which suits me down to the ground. I’ve always, always craved affection all my life, mainly through parental – bad parental – relationships. So, I don’t know, but I put it down to that. And she’s the only person I’ve ever gone out with that’s actually given me the affection I’ve wanted.
Insiders’ insights
If he doesn’t want to be close to me as much as I do, I’m such an idiot because I push the issue. I can’t understand it; I tell him I can’t understand it, and he reacts completely the opposite and moves away more.
Insiders’ insights
I’ve never let anybody get really close to me. I think it’s just like a self-defense mechanism that I have, to not get hurt. I always keep - there’s always a thin distance that I don’t let people come near me or touch me; not a physical touch, but I think, spiritual. To me this is important, my own space. To have someone invade that space that is special to me, I feel violated. I get angry, I get irritated, I get very irritated.
If they don’t want to be with you … you wonder what you’ve done wrong. Or you wonder why; if they don’t love you any more, or if they don’t find you attractive any more, or if they’re bored with you, or if it’s the end of the road. That’s the hardest thing; if S doesn’t want to be with me emotionally or doesn’t want to be with me, there’s nothing to look forward to [sniffles]. There’s nothing at all, nothing I can do. It makes me feel quite miserable, quite alone and quite neglected; ugly, fat, boring, uninteresting; like a nothing.
Insiders’ insights
I’ve never felt that I’ve given them what I could have, had I not been adopted. I’ve passed on the insecurity; I’ve passed on the fear of abandonment. My children are insecure, my eldest extremely so. Fear of rejection. She has actually said to me, “Mum, I just wanted you to love me more.”
7. Attachment-related effects: Summary
Effects are widespread: the individual (distress) the couple bond (quality) offspring (e.g., insecurity)
Effects are complex: own, partner, interactive direct and mediated bidirectional ‘paradoxical’
Anxiety and conflict
Features
Prefer extreme closeness, affection
Sensitive to anger, hurt, rejection
+ Triggers
Anxious or avoidant partner
Conflicts that threaten intimacy
Conflict behaviours (hyperactivating)
Coercion, domination
Low mutuality and satisfaction
Post-conflict distress
Effects of anxiety on couple bond
CoercionCoercion Low mutuality
Low mutuality
Post-conflict distress
Post-conflict distress
AnxietyAnxiety
DissatisfactionDissatisfaction
Effects of anxiety on offspring
Offspring lonelinessOffspring loneliness
Attacking Attacking
Parental anxiety
Parental anxiety
Offspring anxiety
Offspring anxiety
Low problem-solving
Low problem-solving
Avoidance and conflict
Features
Preference for distance, control
Others perceived as clingy and
lacking remorse
+ Triggers
Anxious partner
Stressors (various)
Conflicts that threaten independence
Conflict behaviours (deactivating)
Emotional control; low levels of reasoning, involvement, mutuality
Effects of avoidance on couple bond
(- or +)
Emotional control
Emotional control
Perceived lack of
remorse
Perceived lack of
remorse
Low mutuality
Low mutuality
AvoidanceAvoidance
DissatisfactionDissatisfaction
Effects of avoidance on offspring
Offspring lonelinessOffspring loneliness
Low problem-solving
Low problem-solving
Parental avoidanceParental
avoidance
Offspring avoidanceOffspring avoidance