Loss is an inevitable part of the human experience. How each individual reacts to loss may be affected by various factors (e.g. an individual’s attachment style). The current studies focused on how individuals respond to and cope with the loss of one type of attachment figure, specifically the loss of a romantic partner. The relationship between romantic loss and attachment theory is discussed and an integrated model of romantic relationship loss and attachment is proposed. This model accounts for various differences in how individuals respond to the loss of romantic relationships in young adulthood. Study 1 focused on the development of a revised form of the Inventory of Daily Widowed Life (IDWL; Caserta and Lund, 2007), which was labelled the Daily Activities After Relationship Loss (DAARL), to assess loss-orientation, restoration-orientation, and the oscillation between these processes following romantic relationship loss. This measure allowed for the assessment of coping in keeping with the constructs of the Dual Process Model of Bereavement (DPM; Stroebe & Schut, 1999), but allowed for these processes to be assessed in the context of romantic relationship loss as opposed to coping following the death of a loved one. Study 1 was comprised of two parts with differing samples: Part 1 included seven (four female) graduate students and undergraduate alumni in the social sciences as participants whereas Part 2 included ninety-seven (sixty-nine female) undergraduate psychology students. Participants were presented with proposed items for the new measure, as well as definitions of loss-oriented and restoration-oriented coping, and then were asked to categorize these items as loss-oriented coping, restoration-oriented coping, both, or other. Items yielding the highest levels of inter-rater agreement were used for the DAARL in Study 2. Study 2 focussed on the attachment relationship between former romantic partners, and how individuals coped with the loss of an attachment figure following the termination of a romantic relationship. One hundred and fifty-nine (one hundred and eleven female) individuals who had been broken up with or deemed their most recent romantic loss as being a mutual break-up were asked to complete a questionnaire packet containing measures of attachment style, coping behaviours following the loss, depression, anxiety, and socially desirable responding. A model of differences in coping with romantic relationship loss based on an individual’s attachment style was proposed and tested based on Stroebe, Schut, and Stroebe’s (2005) DPM and findings by Waskowic (2010; See Figure 4). Based on the findings from the current studies there are differences between the four types of attachment (i.e., secure, dismissing, preoccupied, and fearful) in how each copes with the loss of a romantic attachment figure. In light of the current findings, a revised model of romantic grief, which integrates the Dual Process Model of Bereavement within an attachment theoretical framework is offered (See Figure 5). This new model accounts for observed differences in the way individuals cope with the loss of a romantic relationship and suggests that researchers focus on the attachment relationship to explain variability in an individual’s response following romantic loss. The results of Study 2 provide support for the new integrated model and encourage others to consider using attachment theory, when examining how individuals with different attachment styles (i.e., secure, dismissing, preoccupied, and fearful) will respond to a romantic loss. Study 1 and 2 in conjunction also provide early stage support for the validity of the DAARL. Study 1 provided initial content validity by having independent raters assess items as being consistent with restoration-oriented or loss-oriented coping. Study 2 provided empirical support of the items selected as being consistent with their intended constructs by analyzing internal consistency and item-total correlations. The findings of Study 2 suggested that the dimensions proposed represented related, but distinct constructs. The current studies aimed to advance our understanding of the relationship between attachment theory and romantic relationship loss by expanding upon relevant theories and empirical findings for bereavement following a death to other forms of loss. Further, the findings are reported in regards to specific attachment styles, rather than the secure versus insecure distinction that has been commonly utilized when conducting research on attachment style differences. Implications and future directions for research are discussed.

This study examines psychological distress and relationship satisfaction in cancer patients and their partners. It is widely recognized that spouses coping with a cancer diagnosis are at risk of psychological distress, and changes in relationship satisfaction. Debate exists within the literature regarding the level of distress and satisfaction experienced by patients, and to what extent they are influenced by their partners. Twenty six couples coping with a breast or prostate cancer diagnosis, completed two questionnaires over six months assessing: psychological distress, relationship satisfaction, attachment style, self -esteem and matching of partner ideal standards. The cross-sectional results indicate that higher patient distress was associated with their own lower levels of self esteem, less secure, and more anxious attachment styles. Patient relationship satisfaction was increased in those with a less anxious attachment style and in patients who perceived their partner as matching more closely their own ideal standards and perceptions of the patients on vitality and attractiveness. Longitudinal results show an increase in patient distress was also predicted by their partner’s perceiving lower matching between their own ideal standards and perceptions of the patients on warmth and trustworthiness. Unexpectedly, higher relationship satisfaction over time, was also predicted by lower matching of their own ideal standards and perceptions of their partners on warmth and trustworthiness, as measured initially. An increase in patient satisfaction was also predicted over time when patient distress was low, self esteem high and they had higher matching between their own ideal standards and partner perceptions of the patient partner on both warmth and trustworthiness as well as vitality and attractiveness. Explanations for the results, together with clinical and research implications are discussed.

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.

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.

Self-determination theory (SDT) has been used to study motivation and motivational strategies within many different domains one of the most pertinent being academia. The theory emphasizes the importance of autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs and places a strong emphasis on environmental factors as both fostering and impeding of motivational energies, while simultaneously giving less importance to intrapersonal determinants of motivation such as personality and attachment. This gap in the literature was addressed in this study by investigating that aspect of academic motivation which has not been of a salient interest to SDT. To test the hypotheses that Neuroticism, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and attachment styles are associated with Intrinsic Motivation, with attachment being a stronger predictor, 272 participants at a midsize university completed a survey including scales assessing personality traits, attachment style, and academic motivation. Data were analyzed using correlation, regression, and moderation analyses and as hypothesized, all three personality traits were significantly associated with Anxiety and Avoidance attachment dimensions, which in turn were related to Intrinsic Motivation, though only partially. Attachment Avoidance emerged as the most important dimension of attachment accounting for a significant amount of variance in Intrinsic Motivation beyond personality and illustrating the relatedness component of self-determination theory. Implications of these results include both theoretical (example, conceptualizing relatedness in terms of attachment Avoidance), and practical (example, suggestions for instructors on methods for increasing student Intrinsic Motivation) aspects.

The purpose of this research was to utilise attachment theory in understanding the experience of bereavement in childhood. Research objectives were addressed by using a mixed method design. Study One explored how experience of bereavement in childhood relates to current attachment style in adulthood. This was a qualitative interview-based study utilising thematic analysis and a quantitative assessment of attachment styles. Twenty-four participants were employed. The established Experience in Close Relationships (ECR) questionnaire was used. The results through the thematic analysis indicated that people with different attachment styles provide different narratives about their childhood bereavement. This study provides evidence that this was so. Study Two was a co-relational study employing 121 participants who experienced loss of caregiver in childhood. Four established questionnaires were used: Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG; Prigerson et al., 1995), Experience in Close Relationships Questionnaire-Revised (ECR; Fraley, Waller, & Brennan, 2000), Separation Anxiety Symptom Inventory (SASI; Silove, Manicavasagar, O’Connell, Blaszczynski, Wagner, & Henry, 1993) and Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI; Parker, Tupling, & Brown, 1979). The results showed that complicated grief was related to parental care and overprotection, separation anxiety, and adult attachment style. Anxious attachment style fully mediated the effects of parental bonding on complicated grief. Study Three was a quantitative co-relational study to compare two groups of parents (with and without a bereaved child) on child behavioural differences and links between child behavioural problems and parental characteristics. Two hundred and forty participants were employed: 139 parents of children with bereavement experience and 101 without bereavement experience. Five established questionnaires were used: Child Stress Questionnaire (CSQ), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), The Parenting Scale (PS), Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG), and Experience in Close Relationships Questionnaire-Revised (ECR-R). The results showed that child problems were closely associated to parental qualities. It is proposed that this research can make a contribution towards utilising attachment theory in understanding the experience of bereavement in children.

The aim of this thesis was to contribute to our understanding of the therapeutic relationship between clinicians and individuals who have committed sexual offences against children and adults. To do this a systematic review was carried out which explored the relationship between attachment styles and types of sexual offending to investigate whether there is an association between types of sexual offences and types of insecure attachment styles. 16 articles were identified and evaluated. The results of this review indicated that individuals who have sexually offended against children demonstrated more insecure childhood maternal and paternal attachments alongside higher rates of insecure adult attachment styles whereas individuals who have sexually offended against adults demonstrated a more variable pattern of maternal and paternal attachments. Types of sexual offending did appear to be related to different insecure attachment styles with child molesters predominantly identified as preoccupied and fearful and rapists classified as dismissing. A separate qualitative study using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was also completed which explored the experiences of therapists involved in the delivery of group treatment for sexual offenders. Some of the experiences reported were similar to those outlined in previous studies (the importance of collegial support, the experience of intrusive cognitions, managing challenging characteristics of sexual offenders and the perception of being involved in protecting the public) but some were not (the prestige felt from belonging to a niche profession, the pride of pushing professional boundaries and the perception of protecting the patient and managing professional challenges) offering further insight into the possible types of experiences encountered. An awareness and appreciation for the integral role attachment status plays in sexually deviant behaviour enables clinicians to anticipate the relational dynamics that may emerge during treatment and modify interventions appropriately to facilitate effectiveness and maintain the therapeutic alliance. In addition by exploring the experiences of sex offender therapists an understanding of the ways in which the therapeutic relationship and a therapist’s sense of self may be impacted can be garnered (Hernandez, Engstom & Gangsei, 2010; Lyn & Burton, 2004) assisting individuals and organisations in ensuring that the rewards are maximised and the challenges supported and reduced.

The therapeutic alliance has consistently been associated with improved client outcomes across numerous psychotherapy outcome studies. Previous systematic reviews have, however, evaluated the univariate association of the alliance with client outcome. The present meta-analytic review examines the association of the alliance with improved client outcomes after accounting for the presence of therapist empathy, client attachment styles, and client expectations. Across 23 independent studies, the alliance, adjusted for the presence of the other variables, remained as the most robust predictor of improved outcomes r = .258 (SE = .01, p < .001), with a 95% confidence interval of r = .18 to r = .33. After accounting for therapeutic alliance, therapist empathy was a small but statistically significant predictor of improved outcomes. These findings provide the first attempt at synthesizing multivariate estimates of the contribution of the alliance with improved outcomes when in the presence of empathy, client attachment style, and client expectations. The findings presented here suggest the superordinate nature of the alliance as a variable that exists on a separate conceptual level from the other variables evaluated.

The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between adult attachment style, humility, and relationship satisfaction in college student couples. Attachment style--given its significant role in predicting how individuals feel, think, and behave in relationships--was expected to be an important predictor of humility, although this possibility has rarely been studied empirically. The current study found that: (a) attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were significant, negative predictors of total humility, (b) attachment anxiety (but not attachment avoidance) was a significant, negative predictor of both intrapersonal and interpersonal humility, (c) a romantic partner's attachment avoidance (but not attachment anxiety) was a significant, negative predictor of a target person's relationship satisfaction, and (d) a romantic partner's perceived level of humility was a significant, positive predictor of a target person's relationship satisfaction.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a well-recognized public health issue with significant consequences for victims, families, communities, and society at large. Although IPV was once thought to be an almost exclusively male-to-female problem, in recent years it has become more widely understood that IPV also occurs in the context of women’s LGBTQ+ relationships. LGBTQ+ individuals experience ongoing stress because they live in a heterosexist society, termed minority stress, which has been associated with many negative sequelae including attachment insecurity and IPV. Thus, it is pertinent to examine how one’s context, specifically minority stress caused by oppression, may uniquely influence IPV in women LGBTQ+ couples. A sample of 64 LGBTQ+ identified women currently in same-gender relationships filled out self-report questionnaires on minority stress, attachment style, and IPV. Contrary to expectations, it was determined that two types of minority stress, internalized homophobia and experiences of discrimination and heterosexism, were not associated with physical or psychological IPV. However, internalized homophobia was significantly associated with attachment avoidance, but not attachment anxiety. Both attachment anxiety and avoidance were significantly associated with psychological, but not physical, IPV. Mediation analysis revealed an inconsistent significant mediation for the effect of internalized homophobia on psychological IPV; this occurs when the mediator acts as a suppressor variable or a variable that masks any direct effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable. In the current study, the overall indirect effect of internalized homophobia on psychological IPV through attachment avoidance and anxiety was significant. The direct effect of internalized homophobia on psychological IPV was significant but the association was negative, such that once attachment (the suppressor variable) was included in the model, lower internalized homophobia was associated with greater psychological IPV. Overall, internalized homophobia uniquely contributed to attachment insecurity, particularly attachment avoidance, which is a significant risk factor for IPV in women’s same-gender relationships The global COVID-19 pandemic onset occurred before data collection commenced, thus questions were added to measure related changes in psychological symptoms, relationship stress, and IPV related to the pandemic. Psychological symptoms including sadness, loneliness, anxiety, and grief increased in the current sample since the pandemic onset. Similarly, self-reported relationship stress due to work, childcare, and health increased since pandemic onset. An increase in relationship stress was significantly positively correlated with an increase in psychological IPV since the pandemic onset. Thus, there was already an impact on participant’s mental health and stress even within the first six months of the pandemic, although most participants did not report an increase in IPV at that time. Overall, the current study highlights the importance of attachment avoidance as a risk factor for IPV in women’s same gender relationships. Additionally, the startlingly high prevalence rates of IPV and discrimination among LGBTQ+ women speaks to the urgent need to continue fighting against oppression and heterosexism to reduce minority stress and to develop IPV resources that better serve the LGBTQ+ population. / Graduate