The current study examined psychological distress in couples coping with a cancer diagnosis. Although it is widely recognised that spouses coping with a cancer diagnosis are at risk of psychological distress, debate exists within the literature regarding the amount of distress experienced by individuals, and about who is most at risk. Fifty-five couples coping with a cancer diagnosis completed questionnaires assessing psychological distress, social support and attachment style characteristics. Results indicated that partners psychological distress levels were more influenced by social support and attachment characteristics than patients were. Partners of those with cancer, who were higher on the insecure attachment dimensions, perceived providing and receiving less support and were less satisfied with support overall compared to less insecure partners. In addition to this, partner social support was significantly related to psychological distress, and attachment style was found to moderate this relationship. Specifically, partners were more vulnerable to psychological distress when they were higher on the insecure attachment dimensions and when support satisfaction was low or when they had a perception of low support receipt. Contrary to expectations, there were no significant findings for the patient group. Explanations and implications are discussed.

The thesis aim was to increase understanding of interpersonal antecedents and consequences of rumination, defined as ‘repetitive and passive thinking about one’s symptoms of depression and the possible causes and consequences of those symptoms’ (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2004, p.107). As a proof-of-principle study, rumination predicted diminished relationship satisfaction, three months later, in a sample of remitted depressed adults (N = 57). In the next study, rumination was associated with a maladaptive submissive interpersonal style and rejection sensitivity, controlling for depressive symptoms, other interpersonal styles and gender, in a different sample (N = 103 currently depressed, previously depressed and never depressed adults). Subsequent chapters incorporated a second assessment point of data from this same sample. Longitudinal analyses were undertaken to investigate; a) do rumination and depressogenic interpersonal factors predict future depression?; b) does rumination prospectively predict increased rejection sensitivity and submissive interpersonal behaviours, and, vice-versa, do these interpersonal factors predict increased rumination?; c) does rumination prospectively predict poor social adjustment and interpersonal stress? Consistent with previous findings, Time 1 rumination predicted increased depression six months later. Unexpectedly, the effect of rumination on future depression was mediated by its relationship with the submissive interpersonal style. Partially consistent with the stated predictions, Time 1 rejection sensitivity (but not the submissive interpersonal style) prospectively predicted increased rumination, but rumination did not predict rejection sensitivity or the submissive interpersonal style. As predicted, rumination prospectively predicted increased chronic interpersonal stress and poor social adjustment (but not acute interpersonal stress). In a final study, rumination was manipulated via an applied intervention (concreteness training, CT), within the context of a randomized controlled trial (N = 79 clinically depressed adults). Analyses compared the change in social adjustment and submissive interpersonal behaviour reported in the CT condition compared to a treatment as usual (TAU) condition. There was a significantly greater reduction in rumination in the CT compared to TAU condition, p < .05. Moreover, the reduction in submissive interpersonal behaviours was significantly greater in the CT compared to TAU condition, p < .05. The change in social adjustment was not greater in the CT compared to TAU condition. Thus, a psychological intervention which reduces rumination decreased maladaptive submissive interpersonal behaviour. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to theory of rumination and interpersonal theories of depression.

This study examined associations between attachment styles, relational aggression and victimization, and sexual behavior in the context of romantic relationships during emerging adulthood. The sample included 306 college students attending an urban university in the southeastern United States. Multiple regression analyses indicated that individuals with dismissive and fearful attachment reported higher levels of relational aggression, and individuals with fearful and preoccupied attachment reported higher rates of relational victimization as compared to those with secure attachment. Neither relational aggression nor relational victimization accounted for a significant portion of the variance in sexual behaviors. However, significant three-way interactions were found that indicated dismissive and secure attachment style, as compared to other attachment styles, moderated associations between relational victimization and sexual behavior and that the strength of these relations differed by gender. These findings highlight the complexity of these interrelations and have important implications for prevention and intervention efforts.

Supervisors are largely responsible for the structuring of supervision in counseling, which is influenced by various factors pertaining to a supervisor, all of which greatly affect the development of the counselor trainee. This study was designed to explore the factors of attachment styles, self-efficacy for giving corrective feedback and the dimensions of the working alliance. The results will ultimately inform counselor educators and supervisors about the practice of supervision and the implications of supervisors’ attachment styles in counselor supervision.

The purpose of this study was to examine the possible mediating effect of self-esteem on the relationship between attachment security and relationship quality. Previous studies have found a positive association between attachment style and relationship quality. One possible explanation for this link may be self-esteem, which has been shown to consistently predict relationship quality. Therefore, I hypothesized that self-esteem may mediate the relationship between attachment and relationship quality. A sample of 680 married couples that completed the sections on attachment, self-esteem, marital satisfaction, marital stability, and problem areas in the relationship of the RELATE questionnaire between 2011 and 2013 was used. The data were analyzed using an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) to help account for shared variance. Results found that there is a positive link between one's attachment and their level of self-esteem and their own relationship quality. However, results also found negative trend-level effects for the links between attachment and partner's level of self-esteem and self-esteem and own relationship quality. There was no mediating effect of self-esteem on the relationship between attachment and relationship quality.

Sleep is not a solitary activity for the majority of adults, this impacts sleep quality, health, and well-being. Couples experience sleep concordance, or a synchronization of sleep-wake times, which can improve and diminish sleep quality (Gunn et al., 2015). This study explores the association between sleep concordance and sleep quality by examining attachment style as a moderator. Daily sleep diaries were completed by 179 heterosexual couples. Sleep concordance was calculated by dividing total time partners were in bed together by total time at least one partner was in bed each day. Data were analyzed using a multilevel model described by Bolger and Laurenceau (2013). There was a positive association between daily sleep concordance and sleep quality for men. Women with higher secure attachment style scores reported greater sleep quality, and women with higher insecure attachment style scores reported lower sleep quality. Among women with higher secure attachment style scores and lower avoidant attachment style scores there was a negative association between mean sleep concordance and sleep quality. There was no association between sleep concordance and sleep quality for higher anxious attachment scores. Future research is needed to address causal relationships. Findings indicate men and women may experience sleep concordance differently.

The current research examined the proposition that individuals who were securely attached had a fundamentally different reaction and experience of chronic pain to the experience of individuals with an insecure attachment style. A biopsychosocial model of chronic pain was created that included the variables of attachment style, pain, depression, anxiety, somatisation, quality of life, function, disability, neuroticism, age and gender. Three cross-sectional quantitative studies and one qualitative study were conducted. Participants were (a) patients from a multidisciplinary pain centre in a major public hospital, and (b) members of the general population with chronic pain who were recruited from both urban and rural settings, across various community support groups. The total sample was 470. Instruments for the quantitative studies included the Revised Adult Attachment Scale (Collins & Read, 1990), the McGill Pain Questionnaire (Melzack, 1975), the Pain Patient Profile (Tollinson & Langley, 1992), the Quality of Life Inventory (Frisch, 1994), the International Association for the Study of Pain Assessment Protocol (International Association for the Study of Pain, 1986), the Migraine Disability Scale (Stewart, Lipton, Kolodner, Liebermann, & Sawyer, 1999), and the short form of the Eysenck Neuroticism Scale (Eysenck, Eysenck, & Barret, 1985). The clinical and non-clinical participants with a diagnosis of chronic pain syndrome were partitioned as securely or insecurely attached. In the clinical sample, the proportion of securely attached individuals was less than one quarter of the group, while in the non-clinical sample the proportion of individuals in the securely attached group was 50%. For Study 1, (200 individuals from the clinical sample), the groups were partitioned using the classification criteria of Collins and Read (1990). Securely attached participants = 27%, insecurely attached 73%. An analysis of effect of attachment style on overall pain showed that the Securely Attached group reported less overall pain than the Insecurely Attached group. For Study 2, (using the total clinical sample), the sample comprised 27.3% securely attached and 72.7% insecurely attached participants. The Securely Attached group reported less overall Pain, less Negative Affect and Somatisation than the Insecurely Attached group, and higher levels of Quality of Life. Somatisation provided a significant unique contribution of variance to predicting overall Pain, providing some support for the biopsychosocial model, and Negative Affect (Depression and Anxiety combined) made a significant unique contribution to Quality of Life, explaining 26% of the variance. Gender was unrelated to any variable. For Study 3, the sample consisted of rural and urban participants, and the rural group was significantly older than the urban group. No other differences were found. The groups were combined to form the non-clinical group. The group was evenly divided (50%) between securely and insecurely attached groups. Gender was unrelated to any variable. For the non-clinical group, using the variables investigated in Study 2, there was no difference on overall pain scores, but negative affect and somatisation were higher and quality of life lower in the insecure group than in the secure group. No differences were found on Pain Intensity but Pain Pattern differed between the groups. Three new variables were added to the model - Neuroticism, Function and Disability. Disability and Function were significantly different between the attachment style groups. Age was significantly related to lower pain scores, less loss of function, less disability and higher quality of life. Pain scores were most related to somatisation, with age and quality of life contributing significant variance. Neuroticism added further to this explanation. Negative Affect made the most contribution to the variance explained in quality of life, and neuroticism and function made no significant contribution. Neuroticism and Attachment Style contributed significant amounts of variance to Function. To compare the Secure and Insecure Attachment groups in the Clinical and Non-clinical samples, a matched groups study, N = 190, was conducted. Clinical and non-clinical participants were matched for Age, Gender and Attachment Style. No differences were reported on overall pain between the attachment groups, but differences existed on negative affect, somatisation and quality of life. For sample type, the clinical group reported higher overall pain scores, less negative affect and less somatisation, but no differences were found on quality of life, compared to the non-clinical group. Study 4 was a qualitative study that used structured interviews of 24 clinical and non-clinical participants matched for age, gender, attachment style and etiology. The securely attached group reported having extensive, positive social support, high community involvement and appropriate reliance on medical and allied health care and medications. The insecurely attached group reported more problems with physical pain and psychological distress, less social support, less function and more perceived disability. The insecurely attached group reported more use of medical, allied and alternative health resources. Older securely attached individuals reported the lowest overall pain scores and the highest quality of life. These results support the hypotheses that a secure attachment style contributes to more positive outcomes for individuals with chronic pain syndrome and were consistent with a model of chronic pain that includes biological, psychological and social variables.

ABSTRACT THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG ATTACHMENT STYLE, AFFECT REGULATION, PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AND MENTAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE RELATIONAL WORLD Ruganci, Ruhsar Neslihan PhD., Department of Psychology Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tulin Gen&ccedil / &ouml / z February 2008, 271 pages In this study interpersonal world of the individual was tried to be conceived with its cognitive and affective domain. Two Studies were carried out. In the first study, adaptation of the Difficulty of Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) developed by Gratz &amp / Roemer (2004), into Turkish was carried out. Additionally, the relation of secure (Ss), dismissing (Ds), preoccupied (Ps), fearful (Fs) and mixed insecure attachment styles with emotion regulation, and the mediator role of the emotion regulation in the association between each attachment style and psychological distress were analyzed, the results of which were also expected to serve for the strength of the validity of Turkish version . As a result of Study I, Turkish version of DERS was established with considerable reliability regarding alpha coefficient, test-retest and split-half reliabilities. Aapproximately similar factor structure with the original version indicating Construct Validity , as an indication of Concurrent Validity DERS and its subscales displayed significant relation with psychological symptoms, and DERS differentiated high and low distress level regarding Criterion Validity. Additionally, Ss were displayed significantly better emotion regulation in general compared to three insecure categories (i.e., except Ds but including Ps, Fs, Mixed insecures), and Ss significantly differed from total insecures in terms of every strategy of emotion regulation as well . Furthermore, psychological distress and Ss, Ps, Fs, (but not Ds) relationship were mediated by emotion regulation. These results were providing additional support for the validity of the Turkish version of DERS. In the second study, possible Clinical and Control Group differences were investigated through comparing the secure, insecure attachment styles of the participants in relation to emotion regulation, psychological distress and their personal construct system regarding the internal representation of self and significant others. Again, mediation of emotion regulation in the association between attachment style and psychological distress were examined both in Clinical and Control Group. Results revealed that Clinical Group had more difficulty to regulate their emotions, except awareness skill and had more psychological distress compared to Control Group. The strength of Ss was displayed with better emotion regulation and less psychological distress even in Clinical Group compared to insecure attachment styles. Effective emotion regulation, as a mediator was associated to low level of psychological distress for Ss, while problem in emotion regulation as a mediator was associated to high level of psychological distress for insecure attachment style both in Clinical and Control Group. Additionally, Ss seemed to integrate the &amp / #8216 / positives&amp / #8217 / and &amp / #8216 / negatives&amp / #8217 / into &amp / #8216 / self&amp / #8217 / and &amp / #8216 / others&amp / #8217 / rather than splitting and have better cognitive complexity or multi-dimensional view besides more integrated system compared to insecure attachment styles. Results were discussed considering the promising efficiency of instruments that can be used in Clinical Psychology research and considering the implications regarding the prevention and intervention in Clinical practice.

Grieving is a normal reaction to the loss of a loved one. According to the attachment theory, individual&rsquo / s attachment style plays an important role in determining individual differences following loss. Firstly, in the present study, it was aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Two Track Model of Bereavement Questionnaire (TTBQ). With this aim, the data was collected from 206 individuals who lost a significant one. It was found that Turkish version of the TTBQ(TTBQ-T) had a Cronbach Alpha of .91, which indicates that TTBQ-T has a good internal consistency. Also, factor analysis yieded a 5 factor solution. Secondly, in the main study the mediation role of coping styles and affect regulation strategies were examined. The sample consisted of 200 bereaved individuals who lost a significant loved one. In this study,the role of attachment style on bereavement was supported. However, only anxious attachment style significantly predicted poor social functioning. Also, fatalistic coping style was found to lead to more intense grief, whereas helplessness coping style was found to be related to poor social functioning.Moreover, it was shown that difficulties in affect regulation mediated the relationship between anxious attachment style and poor social functioning.

Die doel van hierdie ondersoek was om die interpersoonlike komponent van psigologiese welsyn te verhelder. Vanuit die literatuur is dit duidelik dat psigologiese welsyn 'n interpersoonlike komponent bevat, maar ook dat dit op verskillende wyses gekonseptualiseer word. Die aard van interpersoonlike welsyn is dus nog nie duidelik nie, en dit is ook nie duidelik in watter mate indikatore van interpersoonlike welsyn oorvleuel met indikatore van algemene psigologiese welsyn nie. In 'n empiriese ondersoek het 'n multi-kulturele beskikbaarheidsteekproef van 384 persone, 8 rneetinstrumente of hul sub-skale voltooi ter meting van algemene psigologiese welsyn en konstrukte wat interpersoonlike welsyn verteenwoordig. Interpersoonlike welsyn is geoperasiodi met behulp van die BarOn Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) van Bar-ON (1997), die Fortitude Questionnaire (FORQ) van Pretorius (1998), die Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) van Costa & Mc Crae (1992) en die Attachmeat Style Questionnaire (AS) van Feeney, Noller & Hanrahan (1994). Psigologiese welsyn is geoperasionaliseer vanuit 'n fortigene persperktief met die Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC) van Antonovsky (1989), die Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) van Diener, Emmons, Larsen en Griffen (1985), en die Affectometer 2 (AFM) van Kammann en Flett (1983), sowel as vanuit 'n patogene perspektief, met behulp van die General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) van Goldberg en Hillier (1979). Goeie betroubaarheidsindekse is vir alle skale en subskale gevind. Gemiddeldes van alle skale en subskale was vergelykbaar met die wat in die literatuur gerapporteer is vir ander soortgelyke groepe. Die resultate toon dat interpersoonlike welsyn in 'n mate oorvleuel met algemene psigologiese welsyn, maar as dit ook 'n afsonderlike komponent of dimensie van van psigologiese welsyn vorm. Bevindings toon ook twee onderskeibare patrone van interpersoonlike welsyn. Die eerste een word primer uitgedruk in die uitreiking na ander, omgee-gedrag, 'n houding van nederigheid in nabye verhoudings asook verantwoordelikheid teenoor ander in die groter sosiale konteks. Die tweede patroon word gekenmerk deur 'n geniet van sosiale interaksie en 'n houding van gemak en assertiwiteit in nabye sowel as wyer sosiale kontekst Hierdie onderskeid hou moontlik verband met persoonlikheidsverskille soos inskiklikheid versus ekstraversie. Implikasies van die bevindinge vir psigoterapie en lewensvaardigheidsontwikkeling word aangedui. / Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.