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The purpose of this research was to examine how attachment style and rejection interact to influence female body image. I hypothesized that women who were high in attachment anxiety would report more negative self-evaluations than women who were low in attachment anxiety. I also hypothesized that this main effect would be qualified by a significant interaction between attachment anxiety and rejection, such that highly anxious women who were rejected would report even more negative self-evaluations than highly anxious women who were not rejected. In Study One, I found that higher levels of attachment anxiety were associated with lower self-evaluations but, contrary to expectations, attachment avoidance and rejection condition interacted to influence self-evaluations. At low levels of avoidance, women in the rejection condition reported significantly higher levels of appearance state self-esteem, body esteem, and trait self-esteem than women in the non-rejection condition. However, at high levels of avoidance, women in the rejection condition reported lower levels of these three constructs than women in the non-rejection condition, although this finding was statistically significant only for appearance state self-esteem. In Study Two, my goal was to replicate and extend these unexpected findings by examining perceived partner regard and public self-awareness as potential mediators of the interaction between avoidance and rejection on self-evaluations. Although a main effect of attachment anxiety was revealed for each of the dependent measures, contrary to Study One and my hypotheses, attachment avoidance and rejection did not interact to influence any of the self-evaluation measures and, thus, no mediational analyses were performed. Importantly, I discovered that even though participants’ mean ratings of their body esteem did not change following the rejection manipulation, the degree to which highly anxious women in the rejection condition associated how they felt about their appearance and how they thought their partner perceived them was significantly stronger than that of highly anxious women in the non-rejection condition and low anxious women in either condition. Explanations for the findings found in Study One and Study Two are discussed and the implications of these findings for future research and promoting a positive body image are considered. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2010-08-16 20:38:45.836

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The purpose of the current set of experiments was to investigate the interaction component of avian attachment behaviour. The latter is viewed as the outcome of several components, all of which potentially interact with each other. In these experiments, the visual, brood size, animate vs. inanimate, and familiarity components of avian attachment behaviour were held constant so that the effects of interaction were evaluated unambiguously. The results for Time 1 (T1) yielded various results for both Condition A (Interaction with the other species/breed) and B (Interaction with same species/breed). For T2 (Condition A), the four Experiments yielded various results. For T2 (Condition B), the four Experiments yielded consistent results. When experimental subjects interacted with their own species/breed (white Peking duckling), the preference for their own species/breed (white Peking ducklings) increased while the preference for the other species/breed (domestic chicks or mallard ducklings) decreased. In Experiment 3 and Experiment 4, there was a complete reversal of preference from T1 to T2.

One goal of the present meta-analysis was to assess if attachment-based preventative interventions are effective at fostering attachment security and preventing problems associated with insecure and disorganized attachment. Another goal was to determine what factors are associated with larger effects. Studies were considered eligible if they were a randomized controlled trial, had an attachment-based preventative intervention for children, and had a measure of attachment security, behaviour problems, language development, or emotional regulation. A random effects model was used and a total of 22 studies were included in the meta-analysis. The results of the meta-analysis indicated that attachment-based prevention interventions produced a reliable small to moderate change (d = .37) in children’s attachment security and problems associated with insecure and disorganized attachment. Potential moderating variables were also examined. Total number of sessions and the proportion of single caregivers was associated with a larger effect.

The present study examined interrelationships between attachment levels, relationship efficacy, career decision-making self efficacy, and life satisfaction. Concepts from social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986) and attachment theory (Bowlby, 1973) were integrated to provide a framework for the current study. A conceptual model was proposed and tested to answer the research question: does relationship efficacy and career decision self efficacy fully or partially mediate the relationship between attachment and life satisfaction? This model was constructed to test mediational effects of career decision making self efficacy and relationship efficacy between the variables of attachment and life satisfaction. An alternative model was also developed to test for a direct relationship between attachment and life satisfaction (i.e., in addition to the indirect paths through the mediational variables). Structural equation modeling methods were utilized to test the model. Results indicated an adequate fit for both the primary and the alternate model. Findings indicated that relationship efficacy and career decision self efficacy partially mediate the relationship between attachment and life satisfaction. Theoretical, research, and practice implications are discussed in relation to the findings. Methodological limitations to the study and future directions are offered. The study concluded that adult attachment is a fundamental source of efficacy information and operates as a critical component in people's perceptions of their efficacy in the domains of relationships and career decisions, both of which impact life satisfaction. An integrated model based on social cognitive theory and attachment theory contributed to existing knowledge and may help generate future research. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

The purpose of the current set of experiments was to investigate the interaction component of avian attachment behaviour. The latter is viewed as the outcome of several components, all of which potentially interact with each other. In these experiments, the visual, brood size, animate vs. inanimate, and familiarity components of avian attachment behaviour were held constant so that the effects of interaction were evaluated unambiguously. The results for Time 1 (T1) yielded various results for both Condition A (Interaction with the other species/breed) and B (Interaction with same species/breed). For T2 (Condition A), the four Experiments yielded various results. For T2 (Condition B), the four Experiments yielded consistent results. When experimental subjects interacted with their own species/breed (white Peking duckling), the preference for their own species/breed (white Peking ducklings) increased while the preference for the other species/breed (domestic chicks or mallard ducklings) decreased. In Experiment 3 and Experiment 4, there was a complete reversal of preference from T1 to T2.

Leadership research has traditionally focused on the organizational context and is largely dominated by micro-leadership theories that describe specific styles of leadership. The current research advances previous work by introducing two general interpersonal frameworks – attachment theory and self-determination theory – in order to better understand how leaders relate to those around them in the workplace context. In addition, the current series of studies considers leadership not only in the traditional organizational context, but also in the context of other workplace settings wherein there may not be traditional leadership roles. The central research question was that leaders with more secure attachment orientations would provide greater need support to their employees. In other words, when leaders held positive views of themselves and others, they would be inclined to provide employees with choices, a sense of volition, feelings of connectedness, and efficacy about their abilities. This association was expected to be observed in a variety of leadership contexts. In Study 1, using hospitality managers (N = 104), results indicated that fearful and avoidant attachment (insecure attachment) predicted lower levels of reported need support provision in hypothetical scenarios. Results also indicated that the traditional leadership styles that most research includes did not explain any additional variance in need support beyond that accounted for by attachment orientation. In Study 2, using a sample of students (N = 106) and an experimental design, both secure Attachment and Leadership attachment and positive affect led to higher levels of reported need support provision in hypothetical scenarios. Finally, in Study 3 (N = 154), using a sample of life and business coaches, coaches’ preoccupied attachment orientation predicted lower levels of reported need support in hypothetical scenarios. In addition, coaches’ preoccupied attachment predicted lower levels of reported empathy provision, whereas coaches’ secure attachment predicted higher levels of reported empathy provision. This is the first known research to bring together attachment theory and self-determination theory in a series of three studies with different samples (hotel managers, students and coaches), and multiple research designs (experimental and non-experimental), all focusing on the leadership context. The findings and associated implications are discussed in the context of previous research and future research directions. / Graduate

Very little research has studied the common challenge in adulthood of coming to terms with the eventual mortality of one’s parents as they age and experience illness. The present work begins to explore this emotional adjustment and draws on Attachment Theory and the study of how people cope with their own mortality (Terror Management Theory) to develop hypotheses about potential responses of the adult child. Feelings of vigilance and thoughts or behavioural predispositions toward proximity-seeking, disengagement, and control are considered. I hypothesized specific differences in these responses based on the tendency for those high in attachment anxiety to ‘hyperactivate’ attachment-related thoughts and for those high in attachment avoidance to ‘deactivate’ these thoughts. Study 1 used self-report measures in a community sample of adults for whom a parent had experienced a significant illness. Participants high in either attachment anxiety or attachment avoidance were less likely to seek proximity to ill parents than those low on these attachment dimensions. Those high in attachment avoidance were also less likely to experience feelings of vigilance for signs of illness in their parents and to want to assert control over their parents’ health care relative to those who were low in attachment avoidance. These findings were consistent with hypotheses based on attachment avoidance but opposite to hypotheses based on attachment anxiety. Variation in responses to an ill parent was also found depending on the age of participants and their parents, the severity of the parents’ illness and their health care behaviours, and whether the adult served as a caregiver for their parent. Using a word-completion task, Study 2 assessed whether themes of proximity, disengagement, and control were cognitively accessible following imaginal induction of a parents’ mortality, participants’ own mortality, or an experience of physical pain. The pattern of results did not support hypothesized differences in reaction times based on dimensions of attachment anxiety and avoidance. Predicted differences based on which induction was completed were also not found. Self-report responses replicated findings from Study 1 such that participants high in attachment anxiety were less likely to want to seek proximity to ill parents when thinking about their mortality than those low in attachment anxiety, and that those high in attachment avoidance were less likely to feel vigilant and to want to seek proximity or to assert control over their parent relative to those who scored low on measures of attachment avoidance. The manner in which adults respond to being confronted with their parents’ mortality has significant implications for their own emotional well-being as well as for the emotional and physical well-being of their parent. Given that adults often become caregivers for their ill and aging parents, this area of study warrants further research.