The purpose of this research program was to examine how attachment anxiety and rejection interact to influence intentions and attitudes toward having unprotected sexual intercourse. I hypothesized that women who were high in attachment anxiety would hold weaker intentions to use a condom and would have more negative attitudes toward condoms than would women who were low in attachment anxiety. Moreover, I predicted that these expected main effects of anxiety on intentions and attitudes would interact with rejection, such that the association between high anxiety and both weak intentions and negative attitudes would be exacerbated among women that were exposed to a rejection-salient condition. I explored the interaction of interest in the context of specific romantic partner rejection (Study One) as well as general social rejection from peers (Study Two). In Study One, I manipulated potential partner rejection and found that attachment anxiety and rejection condition interacted to influence intentions to engage in unprotected sex. In the rejection condition, attachment anxiety was marginally positively related to intentions whereas in the non-rejection condition, attachment anxiety was marginally negatively related to intentions. Upon further investigation of this same interaction, I found that among women who were high in attachment anxiety, rejection condition did not significantly impact intention ratings. However, among women who were low in attachment anxiety, those who were rejected reported significantly weaker intentions to engage in unprotected sex than those who were not rejected. Attitudes toward condoms were not influenced by the interaction between attachment anxiety and rejection condition. In Study Two, I manipulated general social rejection and found that the intentions results from Study One were not replicated, as general social rejection and attachment anxiety did not interact to influence intentions to engage in unprotected sex. Once again, attitudes toward condoms were not influenced by this interaction. Explanations for the findings of Study One and Study Two are explored and implications of both studies’ findings for the literature on condom use and for sexual health promotion are discussed. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2009-08-18 11:55:36.243

The purpose of this research was to examine how attachment anxiety and rejection-salience interacted to influence condom use intentions and beliefs. I manipulated rejection-salience specific to a sexual encounter (Study 1) and rejection-salience in general (Studies 2 and 3). I hypothesized that among women who were high in anxiety, those in the rejection-salient condition would report riskier sexual tendencies related to condom use compared to those in the control condition. I did not expect rejection-salience to influence the sexual tendencies of women who were low in anxiety. In Study 1, I manipulated potential partner rejection and found that attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and rejection-salience interacted to influence intentions to engage in unprotected sex. As expected, among women who were high in anxiety and low in avoidance, those in the rejection condition reported stronger intentions to have unprotected sex than those in the control condition. Unexpectedly, the same was true for women who were low in anxiety and high in avoidance. In Study 2, I manipulated general rejection-salience and asked women to indicate how many weeks into a relationship would be appropriate before switching from having protected to unprotected sex. Consistent with the results of Study 1, among women who were high in anxiety, those in the rejection-salience condition reported less time before switching compared to those in the control condition, demonstrating more risky sexual tendencies. In Study 3, I manipulated general rejection-salience and asked women to report how many weeks into a relationship unprotected intercourse should occur. Inconsistent with my predictions, as well as from the results of Studies 1 and 2, among women who were high in anxiety and low in avoidance, those in the rejection-salience condition reported that unprotected sex belonged later in a relationship timeline compared to those in the control condition. Study 4 explored how the exposure to positive relationship thoughts may act to buffer the influence of rejection-salience on risky sexual tendencies among highly anxious women. Some preliminary support for this hypothesis was found. Future research directions and implications for the literature on condom use and for sexual health promotion are discussed. / Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2012-06-28 18:11:21.488

Integrating research on attachment anxiety, rejection, self-regulation and health behaviours, I investigated the interactive effect of attachment anxiety and relationship threat on self-regulation. I hypothesized that self-regulation would decrease following a threat to one’s romantic relationship. Moreover, I expected that this association would be moderated by attachment anxiety, such that it would be stronger for individuals high, relative to low, in attachment anxiety. In three laboratory experiments, relationship threat was made salient and participants were given the opportunity to consume snack foods. In a non-experimental diary study, participants’ relationship stress and health behaviours were measured for a period of seven days. The results for Study 1 indicated that women, but not men, high in attachment anxiety experienced self-regulation failure (i.e., ate more jelly beans) when relationship threat was elicited. In contrast, although women low in attachment anxiety demonstrated the same pattern, it was attenuated and non-significant. Study 2 was designed to replicate the findings from Study 1 using a more powerful relationship threat manipulation that I hoped would cause a consistent pattern for both genders. Contrary to hypotheses, both men and women high in attachment anxiety experienced increased self-regulation (i.e., ate fewer brownie pieces) in the experimental, compared to the control, condition. One important difference between these studies was the presence of the partner in the laboratory in Study 2. I hypothesized that this might account for the discrepant findings between these studies and designed Study 3 accordingly, such that participants either participated alone or with their partners. Unfortunately, this study did not reconcile the discrepancies between the first two studies: Only a main effect of relationship threat on number of jelly beans consumed emerged. For Study 4, individuals completed questionnaires for seven days that assessed how fluctuations in relationship stress interacted with attachment anxiety to affect health outcomes. Analyses of the same-day and lagged effects demonstrated several significant interactions consistent with the hypotheses. These four studies provide initial evidence for the interactive effect between attachment anxiety and relationship stress on health outcomes and well-being. Although the findings were inconsistent, two of the studies provided support for my hypotheses. / Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2010-08-17 21:23:46.461

Recent studies have shown that sexual functioning and sexually related personal distress are weakly related in women, with only a minority of sexual difficulties resulting in significant levels of distress. However, there has been little systematic research to date on which factors moderate the relationship between sexual functioning and sexual distress. Our aim was to assess the degree to which relational intimacy and attachment anxiety moderate the association between sexual functioning and sexual distress in college-age women. Two hundred women (mean age = 20.25) completed surveys assessing sexual functioning, relational intimacy, attachment anxiety, and sexual distress. Relational intimacy and attachment anxiety moderated the association between multiple aspects of sexual functioning and sexual distress. For lubrication and sexual pain, functioning was more strongly associated with distress in low-intimacy vs. high-intimacy relationships, but only for women with high levels of attachment anxiety. Results regarding desire were mixed and neither intimacy nor attachment anxiety interacted with subjective arousal or orgasm in predicting distress. We conclude that both relational intimacy and attachment anxiety are important moderators of the association between sexual functioning and subjective sexual distress in women. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. / text

Research on the devaluation of attractive alternatives has consistently shown that the strength of one’s relationship commitment can influence an individual’s judgements about the attractiveness of a potential mate. Specifically, depending on a person’s degree of relationship commitment, he or she may devalue the physical attractiveness of that alternative as a means of minimizing the perceived threat to his or her relationship. Because the devaluation process is argued to operate as a function of perceived relationship threat, I hypothesized that in addition to the beholder’s relationship commitment, the beholder’s attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, social anxiety, and generalized anxiety should also predict attractiveness devaluation, since a heightened perception of threat is a shared feature among these constructs. Additional theoretical rationale for these hypotheses is derived from modern evolutionary theories of attachment, particularly as they pertain to the function of attachment security within mating contexts. Additionally, I hypothesized that these same five variables would predict both relationship quality and relationship break-up six months after initial data collection. Results generally supported all six hypotheses with some important qualifications. Relationship commitment and social anxiety each predicted attractiveness devaluation in female participants only, and attachment anxiety and avoidance predicted devaluation in male participants only. Generalized anxiety also predicted attractiveness ratings for certain targets but only when the two facets of stress and anxiety were used as separate predictors. Moreover, evidence of devaluation was also found for traits other than attractiveness (i.e., interestingness and intelligence) as well as for same-sex targets. Finally, regarding relationship outcomes, participants who scored higher on measures of anxiety also reported being less committed to their relationships on average and had higher rates of break-up at follow-up. Clinical, social, and research implication of these findings are discussed.

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.

This study examined the intake levels of client general anxiety and attachment anxiety andthe relationship of these levels to changes in therapy alliance across the first four couple therapysessions. Participants were 165 couples in a treatment-as-usual setting. Dyadic growth curvemodeling was used to determine whether couple ratings of therapeutic alliance changed overtime and explored the influence of general anxiety and attachment anxiety on therapeutic alliancedevelopment. Results showed that the alliance increased over the first four therapy sessions.Additionally, female alliance ratings across time were positively associated with female generalanxiety and negatively associated with male attachment anxiety. Results also showed that maleattachment anxiety was negatively associated with male alliance ratings across time.

Adult attachment has been found to play an important role for romantic relationship satisfaction. Specifically, the existent literature generally suggests that attachment anxiety is negatively related to relationship satisfaction. However, the underlying mechanism for this link still needs further exploration. The present study examined the direct and indirect effect of attachment anxiety on relationship satisfaction via two distinct relationship commitment variables: constraint commitment and dedication commitment. The final sample included 146 unmarried participants who were in a romantic relationship for at least three months. Results of multiple regression analyses on the indirect effect model indicated that attachment anxiety had a significant direct effect on relationship satisfaction as well as a significant indirect effect on relationship satisfaction via constraint commitment. However, the hypothesized indirect effect through dedication commitment was not supported. Findings are discussed from the adult attachment perspective. Counseling implications, limitations, and future research directions are outlined.

The current study aims to explore the potential mediating role of emotional experiences and expression during conflictual situations in marital relationships. Past studies have documented a strong relationship between attachment dimensions and/or styles and relationship satisfaction. It was also shown that negative emotions and dysfunctional and destructive expression of emotions have detrimental effect on marital functioning. The current study aims to empirically tie these two areas of research by exploring the mediating role of emotional experience and expression in the relationship between attachment dimensions (i.e., attachment anxiety and avoidance) and marital adjustment of couples using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM, Kashy &amp / Kenny, 2000). It was expected that attachment dimensions of wives and husbands would predict the experience of three negative emotions, namely, anger, sadness, and guilt and destructive expression of these emotions, and in turn, these emotions would predict both partners&rsquo / marital dissatisfaction. Initially, two pilot studies using both qualitative and quantitative methods were conducted to see whether there were culture-specific ways of emotional experience and expression in Turkish cultural context. The findings confirmed the reliability and validity of the three separate emotional experiences scales assessing anger, sadness, and guilt. Based on the findings of the initial studies, the main study involving a sample of 167 married couples who were in the early years of their marriages was conducted. Couples separately completed multiple measures of adult attachment and experience and expression of emotions, and marital quality. Mediating effects of emotional experience and expression in the relationship between the attachment dimensions and marital adjustment were tested utilizing a series of path analyses using the APIM analyses. The results revealed that attachment avoidance, rather than attachment anxiety, of both wives and husbands was the strongest predictor of own and partners&rsquo / marital adjustment in the conflictual situations. In terms of emotional experience, wives&rsquo / regret and husbands&rsquo / anger were the marker mediating emotions. Regarding anger expression, wives&rsquo / and husbands&rsquo / distributive aggression styles mediated the relationship between attachment dimensions and marital adjustment. Analyses on sadness expression yielded only one significant actor mediation effect suggesting that avoidant husbands used more solitude/negative behavior, and this in turn, decreased their marital adjustment. However, guilt expression styles of wives and husbands did not mediate the relationship between attachment dimensions and marital adjustment of both partners. The current study extended the previous studies by providing evidence on the influence of the each partner&rsquo / s attachment orientation on the emotional experience and expression during marital conflict and marital adjustment of both spouses. The implications of the study for theory, practice, and future research were discussed.

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