Recent studies are beginning to show evidence of marital problems for couples that have engaged in early premarital sexual activity compared to those who do not. Adult attachment theory plays an important role in explaining many kinds of distress for couples and helps explain sexual interaction, thus, in this study it is posited that attachment may influence sexual timing patterns. This study focuses on the relationship between insecure attachment styles and early premarital sexual timing. The sample consisted of 256 couples who took the Relationship Evaluation (RELATE) to measure their attachment styles and sexual timing while controlling for length of relationship, religiosity, education and age, which may be related to sexual timing. Models were tested for males and females separately using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results showed a significant, positive relationship between female anxious attachment and early sexual timing. Results also showed a significant negative relationship between female avoidant attachment and early sexual timing. No results showed significant relationships between male insecure attachment and sexual timing. Implications for couples, clinicians and educators are discussed.

While there is substantial evidence that marriage impacts health, no studies have explicitly analyzed the association between attachment behaviors and health practices. This study examines the relationship between couples' attachment behaviors and health practices, as measured by physical activity levels and dietary habits. Couple data was analyzed from the RELATE database (n= 4,957 couples). An Actor Partner Interdependence Model, using a multinomial logistic regression, was used to examine the relationships between attachment behaviors and health practices, as measured by activity level and dietary habits. Results for actor paths indicate that wives' own attachment behaviors significantly influence their own health practices. Husbands' attachment behaviors are not significantly related to their own health practices. Results also show no significant partner paths for either spouse. Clinical implications for treating women who present with health problems are discussed, as are directions for future research.

Relationship initiation is an integral part of romantic relationship development and a key developmental task of emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2004). In addition, relationship initiation practices (such as dating) have the capacity to impact the fluctuating levels of attachment insecurity (whether anxiety or avoidance) that an individual experiences over the course of emerging adulthood (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007). In the present study, I utilized latent growth curve modeling to examine whether certain dating variables (first dates, second or more dates, relationship breakups, dateless weeks) compiled over a 32 week dating history, as well as age and gender could predict change in attachment anxiety and avoidance over four time points in a sample of 309 Latter-day Saint (LDS) emerging adults. Results indicate that dateless weeks and second or more dates predicted the rate of change (i.e. slope) of attachment anxiety and that the overarching model accounted for 25% of the variance in the slope of anxiety. Findings also showed that age predicted initial levels (i.e. intercept) of attachment anxiety and that gender predicted initial levels of attachment avoidance. Findings were discussed in terms of theoretical significance and clinical application.

The powerful influence of global consumerism and its strong effect on rural communities has led to calls for the “death of distance” and for the placelessness of community. However, skepticism remains that all unique elements of communities of place have been erased from rural life. Using data from Montana (N=3,508), this research investigates how distance, size, and other spatially-bound factors influence sentiments of community satisfaction and attachment in communities of place. Findings suggest that distance can decrease community satisfaction in highly rural communities and increase attachment in rural communities along the urban fringe. Perceived satisfaction with community services was a key unanticipated finding as the strongest predictor of community satisfaction and attachment. Therefore, this research argues that even though rural areas are being transformed through global consumerism, levels of community satisfaction and attachment continue to be diverse across place in significant but nuanced ways because of distance and community services.

This study examined the development of attachment as it relates to co-regulation and vagal tone over the second half of the first year of life. Links to infants' attachment and developmental status were also examined. Symmetrical and unilateral co-regulated patterns of interactions at 6 months demonstrated significant linkages with attachment. Developmental status did not show direct linkages with attachment. Direct links between vagal tone and attachment were also not identified. Correlations between co-regulation and vagal tone at the 6 month time point were identified. Findings suggest an important role of co-regulation as it relates to attachment development. Future studies may benefit from evaluating the role of co-regulation as a mediating variable between vagal tone and attachment development.

With Internet access and use becoming nearly ubiquitous aspects of an individual’s experience of everyday life, sociologists must consider how the Internet is transforming an individual's experience of community. This study examines the connections between place-independent forms of social capital actuated online, place-dependent forms of social capital actuated face-to-face, and individuals' perceptions of community attachment and community satisfaction. Moving from a theoretical foundation to empirical evidence, I show the concepts of bonding and bridging social capital can and should be divided based upon the medium through which they are actuated. I then explore the effect of online and offline forms of bonding and bridging social capital on individuals' perceptions of community attachment and community satisfaction. Based on data from 52 communities in Montana, collected in 2012, the results indicate that a significant distinction exists between online and offline social capital and that online social capital is capable, to a limited degree, of ameliorating some of the consequences of geographic isolation, or distance, experienced by many residents of rural communities. The results also indicate that while online actuations of social capital are statistically and substantively important in explaining individuals' perceptions of community, offline actuations of social capital are associated with larger substantive impacts on individuals' perceptions of community attachment and community satisfaction, suggesting that while online social capital is an important part of how individuals experience community, face-to-face, or offline actuations of social capital are more important in determining how individuals perceive the geographically fixed communities in which they reside.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are events that occur during a person’s childhood that can affect their physical, mental, and social health later in life. Abuse, neglect or household disfunction are common events labeled as ACEs to study the effects of childhood trauma. ACEs have been linked to several negative physical and mental health outcomes, such as substance abuse, heart and lung diseases, anxiety and depression. Furthermore, several studies have shown that emotion dysregulation and attachment anxiety mediate the relationships between ACEs and negative health outcomes. Emotion dysregulation and attachment anxiety can also be linked to a commonly studied social aliment, imposter phenomenon. Individuals experiencing imposter phenomenon may feel as though they are undeserving of their personal accomplishments or have achieved them by luck or chance. Emotion dysregulation can lead to a lack of control, or perceived control, over one’s emotions. This lack of control could theoretically lead to feelings of inadequacy and fakeness experienced by those suffering from imposter phenomenon. Likewise, attachment anxiety can lead to fear of abandonment in relationships caused by the similar feelings of inadequacy. The aim of the present research was to therefore determine whether ACEs may predict greater feelings of the imposter phenomenon through emotion dysregulation and attachment anxiety. A total of 464 participants completed measures of ACEs, emotion dysregulation, attachment anxiety, and the imposter phenomenon online in REDCap. A bootstrap (5000 repetitions) mediation analysis conducted in JASP indicated that although ACEs do not directly predict the imposter phenomenon, greater ACEs indirectly predicted greater feelings of being an imposter through both emotion dysregulation and attachment anxiety. That is, the more ACEs one experiences theoretically leads to greater emotion dysregulation and higher attachment anxiety, both of which predict greater feelings of being an imposter. These results suggest that ACEs may disrupt the development of healthy coping mechanisms and regulation strategies that could feed into an inability to recognize one’s abilities and successes. Furthermore, experiencing negative mental and physical outcomes due to ACEs could produce a negative self-worth, leading to feelings of being an imposter. Likewise, anxiety in other aspects of life, such as relationships, could lead to these same feelings. Although the present research suggests that ACEs indirectly predict the imposter phenomenon, future research may show numerous factors impacting the imposter phenomenon with multiple interacting variables. Future research should aim to examine these factors prospectively and in different populations other than the one studied here. As with any self-report research, there could be discrepancies in data reported due to recall and impression management, especially when participants are asked about sensitive subjects, such as ACEs and intimate relationships. Despite these limitations, these results help provide a greater understanding of the effect ACEs and childhood trauma can have on social well-being and can also lead to a better understanding of development of and treatments for the imposter phenomenon.

Any type of bullying can become a traumatic event for a child, leading to lasting negative effects. Specifically, victimization may lead to numerous behavioral problems and lowered self-esteem. Also, the quality of attachment may have a predictive relationship with the victimization and the negative outcomes it may cause. Other research implied that a similar relationship may be found between retrospective bullying and humanity-esteem. Despite the collective research done on these variables, no study, until now, has looked at retrospective bullying, humanity-esteem, attachment, behavior problems, and self-esteem all together. This study not only looked at the relationships among these variables but also the role that humanity-esteem and attachment served between victimization, later behavior problems, and later self-esteem. One hundred thirty-six participants completed five questionnaires assessing experiences of retrospective bullying, humanity-esteem, current attachment relationships, behavior problems, and self-esteem. The results of this study indicated that participants who reported having been bullied previously also endorsed internalizing and externalizing problems as well as low self-esteem. Further, humanity-esteem and attachment both served as significant predictors of victimized individuals' behavioral problems and self-esteem. Such findings suggested that a higher view of humanity and secure attachment may serve as a protective factor against the negative outcomes that may be related to having been bullied. The importance of studying the relationships among these variables is discussed further.

The purpose of this thesis was to examine adult attachment patterns and ethnic experience and the relationship on social competence. There are limited studies that have examined the differences among racially and ethnically diverse populations. A total of 60 university undergraduate students completed the Relationship Questionnaire, Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire, Measure of Adolescent Hetersocial Competence, and the Scale of Ethnic Experience. Results showed that some differences existed between the two groups in terms of attachment patterns. Ethnic identity was related to social competence with both groups. It is suggested that ethnic experience may be useful for studying social competence.

Childhood maltreatment is an experience that is likely to have lasting effects on individuals' emotional and behavioral functioning throughout their lifetimes. In particular, childhood maltreatment often is implicated in the etiology of numerous unfavorable psychological outcomes. Other research also suggested that there is a relationship between child maltreatment and the style of attachment that individuals exhibit post-abuse. Lastly, an association exists between individuals' attachment styles and their emotional and behavioral functioning. Despite substantial documentation of these relationships, few studies examine childhood maltreatment, attachment, and emotional and behavioral functioning collectively. As a result, this study examined the relationships among childhood maltreatment, attachment relationships, and later emotional and behavioral functioning, including eating behaviors. In addition, this study examined the role that attachment serves in the relationship between child maltreatment and later functioning. One hundred participants completed five questionnaires assessing experiences of childhood maltreatment, attachment relationships, emotional and behavioral functioning, and eating behaviors. Results of this study indicated that those individuals who report childhood maltreatment are more likely to report unfavorable emotional and behavioral functioning, whereas those who report childhood maltreatment but who exhibit a secure attachment style to either a parent or a peer are less likely to exhibit unfavorable emotional and behavioral functioning. Further, both the experience of childhood maltreatment and attachment were significant predictors of individuals' emotional and behavioral functioning. Finally, attachment contributed unique significant variance to the relationship between childhood maltreatment and emotional and behavioral functioning, particularly participants' internalizing and total problems.; Such findings suggested that secure attachment may serve as a protective factor against problematic emotional and behavioral symptoms as children reach emerging adulthood, even when individuals have had childhood maltreatment experiences earlier in their lives. The importance of studying the relationships among these variables is discussed.