Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is common among college students and university counseling centers require strategies for addressing this health problem (Amar & Gennaro, 2005; Gover, Kaukinin, & Fox, 2004; Murray & Kardatzke, 2007). Attachment theory may provide strong theoretical and empirical grounding for guiding IPV prevention and intervention efforts (Magdol et al., 1998; Schwartz et al., 2006; Scott, Wolfe, & Wekerle, 2003). The present study evaluated a variety of social and emotional risk factors as potential mediators and moderators of the relation between attachment relevant variables and IPV victimization and perpetration in a college sample. None of the primary hypotheses were fully supported; however, women who reported IPV histories exhibited higher levels of anxious romantic attachment than women without IPV histories. Further, partner delinquency moderated the relation between problems with anger modulation and IPV. Sex differences were examined for study variables and women were more likely than men to experience both IPV victimization and perpetration. These results are compared to prior empirical findings and implications for potential prevention and intervention strategies with college students are identified. Methodological considerations that may influence the interpretation of study data are also presented and discussed.

Dysfunction in interpersonal relationships is central to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and provides the context in which self-harming behaviour, impulsivity and affective liability manifest (Lazarus et al., 2014). A growing evidence base exists for Mentalisation Based Treatment (MBT) in regard to symptom burden and extent of personality disturbance in BPD (Choi-Kain, Albert, & Gunderson, 2016). Less is known about patients’ experience of MBT, potential moderators or the utility of group only MBT. Method: First, a meta-analysis examining the relationship between attachment organisation and BPD diagnosis was conducted. Second, a mixed method design was employed to assess change in interpersonal problems and symptomatic distress following a group only MBT intervention. Potential moderators were examined and patient narratives were elicited and qualitatively analysed. Results: Across 20 studies including 1,948 participants, we found significant, medium to large effect sizes linking BPD to insecure attachment organisation. The largest effect sizes were found for a negative relationship between BPD diagnosis and attachment security, and a positive relationship between BPD and unresolved, anxious and avoidant attachment. The results of the empirical study revealed a significant reduction in interpersonal problems and psychological distress over the course of the intervention. Pre-treatment level of interpersonal problems did not function as a moderator. Patients found the group to be a challenging but rewarding experience. Conclusion: There is a strong relationship between BPD and insecure and disorganised attachment. Less intensive, group only MBT interventions may be effective in reducing levels of interpersonal problems and psychological distress in adults with a diagnosis of BPD.

This pilot study explored the possible relationships between attachment to God and the Christian faith and life among a small sample of evangelical Christians. A quantitative analysis was performed on Christian adults (N=189) in local churches in the southeastern region of the United States. The study examined the relationships between attachment to God, awareness of the value of sin-beliefs, beliefs about sin, and levels of religious defensiveness. The project used correlational and stepwise regression analyses. The study found there was a significant negative variance between avoidance of intimacy with God, anxiety over abandonment by God, avoidance of legalism and religious defensiveness. Implications for Christian psychology and pastoral ministry were also discussed.

abstract: Individuals with high levels of neighborhood attachment provide a multitude of positive factors to neighborhoods. Research has demonstrated that increases in informal social controls, maintaining a well-kept area, and positive social ties are improved with higher levels of neighborhood attachment. Identifying the factors that lead to higher levels of neighborhood attachment has thus become an area in the literature that scholars have frequently studied. One aspect of neighborhood life that has been neglected in research is the role of police on neighborhood attachment. This study addresses the gap by exploring the role of police in influencing levels of neighborhood attachment. Data from the Seattle Neighborhood and Crime Survey are used to examine perceptions of police effectiveness on overall levels of neighborhood attachment, and the three different sub-concepts of neighborhood attachment. Results demonstrated that perceptions of police effectiveness had a positive relationship on all forms of neighborhood attachment. Suggestions for the roles of police in developing neighborhood attachment will be discussed, as well as the theoretical applications for future testing of neighborhood attachment. This study demonstrates the influence of police on daily neighborhood life. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Criminology and Criminal Justice 2016

Little is known about how the quality of one’s relationships might relate to how important a person thinks music is. By combining three established psychological phenomena - the need to belong, transference of attachment and aesthetic emotions - a novel research field addressing this was deducted and explored. A web-survey with self-report scales on attachment styles, belongingness and valuation of music was distributed both publicly via Facebook and targeted to psychology students at Stockholm University per e-mail. 141 surveys were returned. Good to excellent internal consistencies were obtained for all scales. Ambivalent and disorganized attachment styles correlated positively up to medium strength with measures related to valuation of music. A following ANOVA between attachment style groups supported the results of the correlation analysis. The results provide some tentative support for the deducted explanation.

Cette thèse doctorale constitue le recueil de trois études. Deux d’entre elles contribuent à la littérature s’intéressant aux dynamiques et aux corrélats de la violence entre partenaires intimes de même sexe (VPIMS), par l’intermédiaire de données testant des hypothèses à l’intersection de la théorie de l’attachement et de la VPIMS. Entre la première et la troisième étude se trouve une étude de validation psychométrique d’un questionnaire portant sur la confiance dyadique, utilisé dans l’Étude 3. Globalement, le but de cette thèse est l’examen de liens proposés entre l’attachement insécurisé et la perpétration et/ou la victimisation de violence physique, psychologique et sexuelle chez les individus en dyade de même sexe. Ces liens sont bien soutenus dans la littérature théorique et empirique s’intéressant à la violence conjugale hétérosexuelle (voir Mikulincer & Shaver, 2016), mais restent à être testés de façon approfondie lorsqu’il s’agit de la VPIMS. La première étude s’intéresse à l’examen détaillé des contributions respectives des systèmes d’attachement et d’offre de soutien en matière de perpétration et de victimisation de violence physique et psychologique de même sexe. Les résultats provenant d’analyses hiérarchiques de régression soulignent des taux de variance substantiels partagés entre chacune des dimensions d’attachement insécurisé, de soutien et de VPIMS. L’évitement et la proximité se sont démarqués en apportant des contributions indépendantes au-delà des autres dimensions d’attachement et de soutien. En considérant le chevauchement important entre les dimensions d’attachement et de soutien, ainsi que les contributions indépendantes de l’évitement et de la proximité, la réduction factorielle des six dimensions d’attachement et de soutien (soit, l’anxiété, l’évitement, la proximité, la sensibilité, le contrôle et le soutien compulsif) a été tentée. Deux composantes principales ont été extraites, soit, l’hyperactivation et la désactivation. Ces dernières ont été mises en relation avec la VPIMS par le biais d’une deuxième série d’analyses hiérarchiques. Les résultats qui en découlent soulignent des variances partagées entre l’hyperactivation, la désactivation et la VPIMS, et que ces variances partagées apportent chacune leur contribution indépendante. Par soucis de rigueur méthodologique destinés à favoriser l’utilisation de questionnaires validés, la deuxième étude vise la validation psychométrique de la Dyadic Trust Scale auprès d’individus en relation de même sexe. La structure factorielle de ce questionnaire a été testée par analyse factorielle confirmatoire, afin d’évaluer si elle demeure unidimensionnelle lorsqu’elle est administrée aux individus en dyades de même sexe. Les résultats obtenus soulignent que la structure unidimensionnelle de la mesure originale a pu être répliquée avec l’échantillon recruté. La fidélité de cette mesure s’est avérée excellente. Globalement, cette mesure semble être appropriée pour évaluer la confiance dyadique chez les individus en relation de même sexe. La troisième et dernière étude propose un modèle théorique dans lequel la confiance dyadique et l’intimité sexuelle agissent comment médiateurs sériels de la relation directe entre l’attachement insécurisé et la perpétration de VPIMS sexuelle. Les résultats issus de procédures bootstrapping soutiennent le modèle proposé dans son intégralité. L’attachement insécurisé (c.-à-d., l’anxiété ou l’évitement) était directement associé à la perpétration de VPIMS sexuelle. Les trajectoires indirectes propres à la confiance dyadique et à l’intimité sexuelle étaient soutenues, et les résultats soutiennent également l’existence d’une médiation double et sérielle entre l’attachement, la confiance dyadique, l’intimité sexuelle et la VPIMS sexuelle perpétrée.

It has long been recognized that childhood bereavement is a risk factor for depression in adulthood. Research also has consistently demonstrated that parental depression is linked to poor parent-child relationship quality. The current study examined whether bereavement in childhood increases likelihood of current depressive symptoms among parents and explored whether this vulnerability in the parent then alters the quality of the parent-child relationship. Archival data for a sample of 86 families (N=176 parents) are drawn from the Family & Kid Connection project led by Dr. Shelley Riggs. Instruments utilized include the Background Information Questionnaire, the Symptom Assessment-45 Questionnaire, and the Parenting Relationship Questionnaire. Using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, Multilevel Modeling procedures explored the hypothesis that parental depression mediates the association between parents’ childhood bereavement and their perception of the parent-child relationship. Results show a significant relationship between parental (actor) depressive symptoms and parent-child attachment, indicating the need for therapeutic interventions targeting the parent-child relationship, and not just parents, for parents suffering from depression.

Despite research documenting the association between shame and aspects of poor psychological functioning, shame's adverse effects have remained largely invisible in modern societies. Shame has been described as the "attachment emotion" (Lewis, 1980), yet, there is little research that examines the relationship between attachment style and shame, and conclusions from this research are tempered by methodological limitations. The current study aimed to address methodological limitations with a quasi-experimental design and employed measures of state and trait shame, shame coping styles, an Emotional Stroop task for assessing implicit shame, and a shame mood induction procedure (MIP). This methodology provided a basis to examine differences by attachment style for 271 university students in state, trait, and implicit shame, as well as the use of maladaptive shame coping styles at baseline and following a shame MIP. Additionally, a qualitative analysis of the shame MIP written responses was conducted to provide a more nuanced understanding of the task used to elicit feelings of shame and individual differences in events identified as shame-triggering. Results revealed that students evidencing an insecure attachment style (i.e., preoccupied, fearful, or dismissive). reported significantly more state and trait shame compared to students evidencing a secure attachment style after the shame MIP. Individuals with an insecure attachment also demonstrated significant increases in state shame from baseline to post-MIP. Additionally, students with a preoccupied or fearful attachment style were also significantly more likely to endorse utilizing maladaptive shame coping strategies compared to students with a secure attachment style. Clinical implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.

No description available.

The presence of Salmonella enterica throughout the production and processing continuum is a concern in broiler industry. While federal regulations have lowered the acceptable level of Salmonella contamination on broiler carcasses, the mechanisms that contribute to pathogen attachment are not fully understood. Salmonella Kentucky has become the predominant Salmonella serovar isolated from broilers carcasses at the end of the immersion chill tank. In Europe and Africa this serovar has been shown to acquire antibiotic resistance genes that may lead this non-typhoidal serotype to become a potential public health concern. To investigate the genes that are involved in colonization of the bacteria to broiler skin, a mutant library of the bioluminescent strain of S. Kentucky was constructed. According to the chicken attachment assay, it was concluded that attachment is a multifactorial process with the following elements contributing: i), flagella, ii), LPS structure, iii), amino acid metabolism, iv), TCA cycle pathway; v), conjugative transfer system, vi), multidrug resistant protein, vii), signaling and transportation system, viii), metabolism, ix), different enzymes, x), phage tail fiber protein H, xi), fimbrial export usher proteins, xii), membrane proteins xiii), and several unnamed proteins. The role of flagella between all of these contributing elements appeared to be the most significant. The flagella motor gene, filament sub-units and hook associated protein were deleted by using the ë red recombination method. The mutants’ ability to colonize broiler skin was compared to their parental strain, and the motility and flagellin main sub-unit (FliC) were recognized as the key factors contributing to bacterial attachment. Using Caco-2 cell lines as a cell model to assess adhesion and invasion capacity of flagella mutants, similar results were observed. Based on the result of the experiments conducted in this study, it appears that the active flagella FiC sub-unit plays an important role in colonization of epithelial cells outside and inside of the broilers.