Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka samband mellan vuxnas anknytningsstilar och adhd. Vilken anknytningsstil är den mest framträdande i gruppen adhd? 24 personer, som har fått diagnos adhd, har fyllt i enkät RQ-SWE. Svaren har jämförts med normalfördelningen av olika anknytningsmönster. Resultatet visar att förekomst av otrygg anknytning är betydligt högre bland vuxna personer som har fått diagnos adhd. När det gäller fördelning av tre otrygga anknytningsstilar visar det sammantagna resultatet att grupperna inte skiljer sig när det gäller Otrygg/Undvikande/Avvisande anknytningsmönster. Förekomst av Otrygg/ Ambivalent anknytning och Otrygg/Undvikande/Rädd anknytning är högre bland personer som har fått diagnos adhd. Studieresultat visar att det finns ett samband mellan vuxnas anknytningsmönster och diagnosen adhd. Mer omfattande studier krävs för att undersöka frågan om orsakssamband mellan biologisk sårbarhet och tidig miljöpåverkan.

In healthy adult relationships both participants serve as attachment figures and caregivers, with each partner seeking and providing care for the other as needed (Hazan & Shaver, 1987). However, chronic illness may result in one individual requiring disproportionately more care without being able to fully reciprocate. The purpose of this research was to investigate the relevance of attachment as a predictor of care receiving, relationship, and health related variables, in a sample of adults experiencing a chronic illness. This investigation employed survey methodology, and 68 individuals with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) participated. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses supported theoretically derived hypotheses. Attachment, conceptualized in terms of the orthogonal constructs of attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance, was found to be a relevant construct in predicting self-reported reaction to care receiving, relationship functioning and quality of life in a sample of individuals with MS. Analyses revealed that elevated attachment anxiety is associated with feelings such as anger, embarrassment, and indebtedness in response to receiving help, while elevated attachment avoidance predicted care receiver perceptions that they were being discouraged from continued independence. In terms of relationship functioning, care receivers with elevated attachment anxiety and care receivers with elevated attachment avoidance reported less trust, acceptance, and intimacy in their relationships, and were less committed to their relationships and their relationship partners. Additionally, elevated attachment avoidance was predictive of lower overall relationship satisfaction. Finally, elevated attachment anxiety predicted poorer mental health and overall quality of life, while elevated attachment avoidance predicted poorer physical health. Interactions between attachment constructs and type of caregiver (spouse/partner vs. other) were observed in several analyses suggesting that attachment anxiety exerts its strongest influence within committed relationships, whereas the power of attachment avoidance appears to be generally more pervasive. The results of this investigation can be understood within the context of the biopsychosocial model of coping with chronic illness. Knowledge of attachment style may be clinically useful as it provides insight into individuals behaviour and emotional experiences in relationships. Attachment- informed interventions may lead to improvement in relationships and subsequent improvement in psychological functioning and physical heath.

The purpose of this study was to explore how volunteers engaged in natural-area based projects develop attachments to the resource and act as stewards for these resources. The context of this study was the National Park Service's All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) project. This project recruits citizen scientist volunteers to go out into the field with scientists to help collect and catalogue species in the park in an attempt to generate an all inclusive species inventory. Using data collected during indepth interviews and notes taken from participant observations, this study found ATBI participants' motivations to volunteer in the project were multifaceted and included (a) an attachment to the park, (b) an attachment to specific species, (c) the social bonds to other volunteers, (d) the bioblitz experience itself, (e) and/or the opportunity to learn about the natural environment. Analysis of the data also found volunteer informants had personal, well defined meanings attached to the resource prior to the inception of the ATBI project. Through participation in the ATBI project, however, the resource was experienced in a new way, with new meanings emerging while other established meanings were refined. It was found that these established, emerging, and refined meanings formed the foundation of the informants' attachments to the ATBI resource(s), which in turn became the basis for their stewardship of their respective parks, as well as feelings of stewardship for natural areas beyond park boundaries.

According to attachment theory a key moderator in the enjoyment of exploration is the strength of a person's secure base. To study exploration we placed participants in a situation in which they confronted a novel stimulus. We also gathered self-reported data on their mood immediately before and after this encounter with a novel stimulus as well as their attitudes about the novel stimulus activity. The effect of a ?secure base? on this encounter was examined in two ways: first through chronic attachment, and second through priming participants with either a secure attachment prime, an insecure attachment prime or a neutral prime. Thus, this study makes two categories of predictions: the first regarding the effect of chronic attachment, and the second regarding the effect of primed attachment. Regarding the effect of chronic attachment, we predicted that there would be an interaction between the novelty of the stimulus and chronic attachment. Specifically, we found that both chronic attachment avoidance and chronic attachment anxiety predicted greater tense mood following the activity and greater anxiety about the activity. In addition, we found that chronic avoidant attachment was related to greater anger following the activity and less happiness following the activity. These results remained significant even when mood immediately before the activity was controlled. Regarding primed attachment, we found that there was an interaction between primed attachment and novelty condition. (During the study, participants in the low novelty condition interacted more extensively with the novelty stimulus than did participants in the high novelty condition.) Specifically, we found that participants in the low novelty condition reacted more strongly to the attachment prime than participants in the high novelty condition. Further, the attachment prime predicted the direction of the change in mood. Thus, for the low novelty conditions, participants primed with secure attachment reported significantly more happiness and higher positive affect on a composite mood scale, compared with participants primed with insecure attachment. In the same way, again for the low novelty conditions, participants primed with secure attachment reported significantly lower levels of anger, compared with participants primed with insecure attachment.

This study examined a measure of children's memory for information from a story about a hypothetical mother and child, the Story Task, as a potential tool to delineate subtypes of aggressive children based on the pattern of information processing revealed through their Story Task performance. The Story Task scores of 263 second and third grade aggressive children were subjected to a cluster analytic procedure. Although four apparently distinct subgroups emerged from the cluster analysis (negative recall, low recall, defensive processing, and positive projection), validation analyses of these clusters against external variables failed to reveal significant group differences. Potential exaplanations for the failure to find meaningful subgroups of aggressive children and general limitations of the study are discussed.

This study examined the relation between attachment characteristics and intimacy experienced after one’s attachment style is activated. Attachment theory states that when an individual feels threatened by an attachment figure, attachment style is activated and dictates how that individual relates to his or her partner in that situation. This study tests this theory. Data were collected on 110 committed romantic couples from the community. Each individual completed a series of questionnaires, including the Adult Attachment Questionnaire. Couples then engaged in a series of four videotaped interactions in which both partners had an opportunity to discuss times in which their feelings were hurt by someone other than their partner and times in which their feelings were hurt by their partner. These interactions were regarded as low- and high-risk, respectively. The high-risk interaction was specifically targeted to activate attachment style and elicit attachment behaviors. Analyses were conducted using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM). This model takes into account the interdependence of observations between partners. As a function of this model, both actor effects (the effect one’s own attachment style has on one’s own experiences of intimacy) and partner effects (the effect one’s own attachment style has on one’s partner’s experiences of intimacy) were examined. Intimacy was conceptualized in two different manners: state (post-interaction intimacy) and trait (overall intimacy in the relationship). It was hypothesized that individuals with insecure attachment characteristics would report lower feelings of both state and trait intimacy compared to securely attached individuals. It was also predicted that the partners of individuals with insecure attachment characteristics would report lower state and trait intimacy following the high-risk interaction compared to partners of secure individuals. The results of this study supported these hypotheses. Models testing the effect of the attachment characteristics avoidance, ambivalence, and avoidance-x-ambivalence found a relation between the presence of insecure attachment characteristics and lower levels of both state and trait intimacy. Implications of these results and future directions of study are discussed.

A large body of research exists relative to male aggression. Studies over the past 30 years, especially as related to male-to-female intimacy violence in a domestic context, have contributed greatly to a better understanding of aggressive male behavior. However, it is suggested that a more balanced approach to research on aggression should include studies related to female aggression. A search of the current literature indicates that this process has begun; however, studies tend to report a different dynamic at work in aggressive women versus aggressive men. It appears that overall, female aggression more than male aggression, has a stronger relational component. It is the case that females can be aggressive and place substantial importance on the relationships in their lives. Attachment theory addresses the salient issue of relationships and is such a broad and complete theory that it incorporates aggressive behaviors as well. Therefore, this study seeks to expand the research related to attachment styles and associated behaviors, in particular as they pertain to the influences upon female aggressive behavior. A study of the relationship between the independent variables of gender, psychopathology/personality, and attachment style and the dependent variable of aggression was conducted. It was hypothesized that attachment style would be a better predictor of female aggression as compared to psychopathology. Additionally, it was hypothesized that psychopathology would be a better predictor of male aggression as compared to attachment style. Significant results were obtained suggesting that attachment is a better predictor of female aggression than psychopathology, with a non-significant observation indicating the reverse being true of males. Specific gender differences related to aggression and violent behavior are presented. Current trends applicable to theories of aggression are discussed, as well as suggestions for future research.

Project (M.A.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005. / Project (Dept. of Gerontology) / Simon Fraser University. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Liberty University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 97 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-79).