The attachment system is activated when a threat is perceived in the environment. Attachment style differences moderate the levels of this activation. Whereas anxiously attached people are more hypervigilant to attachment-related stress, avoidant people have an ability to suppress their attachment related thoughts under stressful conditions. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the subliminal presentation of threat and attachment figure primes interfere with the cognitive task performance of participants with different attachment styles. It was hypothesized that anxious participants would perform worse than secure and avoidant participants under both conditions of attachment-related threat and attachment figure primes. Avoidant participants were expected to perform poorly only when a threat prime is followed by an attachment figure prime. The securely attached participants were expected to perform better than the other attachment groups. University students (N = 225) filled out a questionnaire package including the measures of attachment figure names (WHOTO), attachment anxiety and avoidance (The Experiences in Close Relationships, ECR) / and they were administered computerized Signal Detection and Stroop tasks representing cognitive attentional performance in the laboratory. The results showed that attachment avoidance was a significant predictor of decreased cognitive performance, and attachment anxiety makes people vulnerable to cognitive performance decline only under certain circumstances of attachment system activation. Attachment security was identified to make individuals immune to the effects of threat or attachment figure availability priming on cognitive performance. The findings were discussed considering previous work and implications for cultural differences.

The study aims to investigate the effects of married women&rsquo / s attachment security, caregiving styles, how they initiated marriage (i.e., love vs. arranged) and whether they have egalitarian or traditional marriage on their marital satisfaction and attachment figure transference to their husband. It is expected that attachment to spouse would be stronger and attachment functions would be transferred earlier in love marriages than arranged marriages. Moreover, caregiving styles, attachment security, and egalitarian structure of marriage are expected to predict transference of attachment functions to husbands and marital satisfaction. Married women (N = 204) filled out a questionnaire package including the measures of division of labor in house chores, significant people in their life, attachment anxiety and avoidance, caregiving styles, and marital satisfaction. A series of ANCOVA controlling for the duration of marriage was conducted to compare the participants with arranged and love marriages. Separate hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to predict attachment strength and satisfaction separately for love and arranged marriages. Results revealed no significant difference between arranged and love marriages on the strength and timing of attachment figure transference to spouse. In both types of marriage, sensitive and responsive caregiving styles and low attachment avoidance were associated with stronger attachment to spouse. Although those with egalitarian relationships reported higher levels of marital satisfaction in both love and arranged marriages, women with both egalitarian and love marriages reported the highest levels of marital satisfaction than those with traditional and love marriage. The findings were discussed considering cultural context and previous work.

Notre recherche a pour objectif de montrer que le modèle de l’attachement adulte constitue un facteur de vulnérabilité psychologique explicatif de la dépression des femmes et de son évolution sur deux aspects : la perturbation de la régulation émotionnelle (stratégies d’attachement) et l’insécurité des représentations des liens d’attachement passés (expériences parentales) et actuels (styles d’attachement amoureux et interpersonnel). Il s’agit de déterminer aussi les liens existants entre la personnalité des femmes déprimées et l’attachement adulte. Nous portons un intérêt plus spécifique à l’évolution des liens entre la dépression et les styles d’attachement (stabilité ou modification) durant l’hospitalisation. Les résultats principaux de notre étude indiquent des liens significatifs entre la dépression et l’insécurité des stratégies (à dominance préoccupée), des représentations des expériences passées (préoccupée et non résolues) et des styles d’attachement (à dominance craintive) amoureux et interpersonnel. Quant aux femmes déprimées ayant un trouble de personnalité, elles sont davantage préoccupées dans les représentations des relations actuelles. Enfin, les résultats montrent que seul le style d’attachement interpersonnel secure se modifie en fonction de la diminution de la dépression durant l’hospitalisation tandis que l’ensemble des styles d’attachement amoureux reste stable. Ces résultats permettent de mettre en évidence des caractéristiques psychopathologiques spécifiques chez les femmes déprimées concernant la perturbation de la régulation émotionnelle (hyper-activation des affects en lien avec les « troubles psychopathologiques internalisés », stratégies défensives de détachement, difficultés de mentalisation) et les représentations insécurisées des liens d’attachement passés (focalisation excessive sur les relations parentales, ambivalence, dépendance, expériences traumatiques) et présents (anxiété affective et relationnelle mais défiance par peur d’être rejetée). L’étude de l’attachement permet d’apporter des éléments de compréhension sur le lien insecure à l’autre chez les femmes déprimées présentant une personnalité pathologique. Nous discutons également des rapports entre la vulnérabilité dépressive et la stabilité ou la modification des styles d’attachement. Enfin, nous évoquons les perspectives thérapeutiques (notamment le travail sur la mentalisation) de l’étude et les limites / The purpose of our research is to show that the model of adult attachment constitute a factor of psychological vulnerability that explain women depression and its evolution on two levels: the disturbance of the emotional regulation (attachment strategies) and the insecurity of the representation of the past links of attachment (parental experiences), and the current ones (love and interpersonal attachment). The aim is also to determine the existing links between the personality of the depressed women and adult attachment. We have a more interest more specific in the study of the evolution between the depression and the patterns of attachment (stability or alteration) during hospitalization. The main results of our study show significant links between the depression and the insecurity of attachment strategies (mainly preoccupied), representations of the past experiences (preoccupied and unresolved) and love and interpersonal attachment styles (mainly fearful). As regards to depressed women suffering from a personality disorder, they are more preoccupied in the representations of the current attachment relations. At least; the results show than only interpersonal attachment styles modified according to the decrease of the depression during hospitalization, while all loving attachment styles remain stable.These results obviously allow to specific psychopathological characteristics in depressed women concerning the disturbance of the emotional regulation (hyper-activation of the affects, linked with internalizing psychopathological disorders, defensive strategies of detachment, and difficulties of mentalization) and the insecure representations of the past links of attachment (excessive focus of the parental relations, ambivalence, dependence, traumatic experiences) and present (relational and affective anxiety, but mistrust for fearof being rejected). The study of the attachment allows us to bring comprehensive elements about the insecure relationship to the other in the depressed women with a pathological personality. We also discuss about links between depressive vulnerability and stability or the modification of the attachment styles. At least we evoke the therapeutic perspectives (in particular the work of the mentalization) of the study and the limits.

This study addresses young children's involvement with comfort objects, including why children have them, how they are used, when attachments to such objects are cause for concern and how teachers and parents can respond to promote the young child's development. The child's becoming and development is examined in this study. The researcher also reviews major transitional object theories in terms of origin, development and psychological meaning. This study aims to explore this phenomenon from a psychological - educational perspective and to formulate a set of guidelines for parents and professionals whose children use comfort behaviour. Information was collated from case studies, a questionnaire and a detailed study of literature. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

Cohabitation is becoming more prevalent in western society so that up to 7.5 million cohabiting couples were reported in the USA for the year 2010. The present study investigated whether the cohabitants’ attachment style might be one of the reasons for cohabitation gaining such popularity. Attachment styles as well as socio-demographic variables were compared in regard to the partnership status. A sample of 1,002 participants aged 18 to 60 were used as a representative sample (M = 43.5, SD = 10.9), of which 54% were female and 82% were married. The cohabitants were younger, more highly educated, and less frequently affiliated with a church. The cohabitants were more anxious-attached, especially those of a younger age. A one-point increase in value on the AAS anxiety scale almost doubled the possibility of cohabitation. Most of the variance can be explained by socio-demographic variables. However, based on these representative data, and after controlling for socio-demographic variables, attachment anxiety is still connected to cohabitation. The diverse results in the literature may be explained by differences in the socio-demographic characteristics of the sample.

Cohabitation is becoming more prevalent in western society so that up to 7.5 million cohabiting couples were reported in the USA for the year 2010. The present study investigated whether the cohabitants’ attachment style might be one of the reasons for cohabitation gaining such popularity. Attachment styles as well as socio-demographic variables were compared in regard to the partnership status. A sample of 1,002 participants aged 18 to 60 were used as a representative sample (M = 43.5, SD = 10.9), of which 54% were female and 82% were married. The cohabitants were younger, more highly educated, and less frequently affiliated with a church. The cohabitants were more anxious-attached, especially those of a younger age. A one-point increase in value on the AAS anxiety scale almost doubled the possibility of cohabitation. Most of the variance can be explained by socio-demographic variables. However, based on these representative data, and after controlling for socio-demographic variables, attachment anxiety is still connected to cohabitation. The diverse results in the literature may be explained by differences in the socio-demographic characteristics of the sample.

Individuals evidencing psychopathic personality traits have been shown to have problematic attachment to others. Moreover, research suggests that culture affects attachment style as well as the expression of various psychopathic traits using the four-factor model of psychopathy. However, the majority of this research has included only white college students, which is a limiting factor. The current study assessed the relations among attachment representations and psychopathic features across two independent samples (one adult & one adolescent) from different world regions (adults only), ethnicity (adolescents only), and gender. Using similar assessments of attachment and psychopathic traits for both samples, dismissing attachment was related to aspects of psychopathic traits in nearly all cultures and ethnicities sampled. In the world sample, secure attachment was found to positively relate to impulsive and parasitic lifestyle traits in all regions. Culture and gender were found to moderate several relations between specific attachment styles and psychopathic features. Overall, the patterns of data indicated that many of the differences found between groups may be rooted in individualistic versus collectivistic values, and were consistent with previous research assessing these constructs across diverse samples.

Inledning: Anknytningssystemet har en beprövad inverkan på hur vi söker stöd i pressade situationer och kan reglera stress. Studien syftar till att belysa anknytningens betydelse för ledar-och medarbetarskap och upplevelser av arbete och hälsa.  Frågeställningar: 1. Har otrygg anknytningsstil (avfärdande/upptagen/rädd) samband med mer negativa upplevelser av arbete och hälsa? 2. Har medarbetare till chefer med trygg anknytningsstil mer positiva upplevelser av arbete och hälsa? Metod: 432 tjänstemän i svenska företag besvarade ett frågeformulär bestående av Relationship Questionnaire (RQ), Salutogenic Health Indicator (SHIS), Work Experience Scale (WEMS).  Resultat: Medarbetare med upptagen eller rädd anknytningsstil hade sämre upplevelser av vissa aspekter av arbete. Tryggt anknutna medarbetare upplever arbetet mer positivt. Chefens anknytningsstil påverkar medarbetarens uppfattning av vissa aspekter av arbete och hälsa.  Diskussion: Otrygg anknytning hos medarbetaren medför en mer negativ upplevelse av arbete vilket kan tolkas som en konsekvens av mindre effektiv stressreduktion. Fysiska aspekter av hälsa, självbestämmande och uppfattning om ledarskap påverkas negativt hos medarbetare med otryggt anknutna chefer vilket kan ses som en följd av ledarens brist på stöd till följd av dennes anknytningsstil. Betydelsen av struktur och trygghet, som arbetsrättslig lagstiftning medför, bör fortsatt diskuteras. / Introduction: The attachment system has proven influence on both how we seek security and safety and on the HPA-axis, the stress regulation system. The study aims to investigate the influence of attachment style among leaders and employees and on their experiences of work and health. Research question: 1. Does insecure attachment (dismissive/preoccupied/fearful) have a negative influence on experiences of work and health? 2. Do employees of managers with secure attachment have more positive experiences of work and health? Method: 432 officials in Swedish companies answered a web form consisting of the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ), Salutogenic Health Indicator (SHIS), Work Experience Scale (WEMS). Results: Employees with preoccupied or fearful attachment had worse experiences of some aspects of work. Employees with secure attachment experienced work more positively. The managers´ attachment style did affect the subordinates´ perception of some aspects of work and health.  Discussion: Insecure attachment has a negative correlation with work experience which could indicate less effective stress regulation. Negative experiences among subordinates concerning physical health, self-determination and leadership are associated with insecure attached managers and could be a consequence of ineffective caring orientation of these managers. The importance of structure and security, which Swedish labor law provides, should be further discussed.

Forskning om sexuell hälsa utgår ofta från ett patologiskt perspektiv och sällan belyses att sex kan vara hälsofrämjande. Sexuell nöjdhet är en hälsofrämjande aspekt och kan beskrivas som en individs kognitiva och emotionella attityd gentemot den egna sexuella aktiviteten. Erfarenheter av nära relationer och förmågan att vara närvarande i stunden kan ha betydelse för dessa attityder. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka sambandet mellan vuxenanknytning, dispositionell mindfulness (dvs tendens att vara medvetet närvarande i vardagen) och sexuell nöjdhet hos svenska universitets- och högskolestudenter. Ett sekundärt syfte var att utvärdera psykometriska egenskaper hos den svenska översättningen av självskattningsformuläret Sexual Satisfaction Questionnaire (SSQ). Totalt 158 respondenter inkluderades i studien efter att via en digital enkät besvarat självskattningsformulären Erfarenheter av Nära Relationer (ENR), Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ_SWE) och SSQ. Resultatet visade att samband förekommer mellan fenomenen samt indikerar att relationen mellan vuxenanknytning och sexuell nöjdhet medieras av dispositionell mindfulness. Resultatet tydde på att SSQ är ett reliabelt mätinstrument. Slutsatsen är att trygg anknytning och högre nivå av dispositionell mindfulness är associerat med högre nivå av sexuell nöjdhet. Lägre nivå av sexuell nöjdhet hos personer med mer anknytningsängslighet och/eller anknytningsundvikande tycks helt eller delvis kunna förklaras av att dessa individer också tenderar att vara mindre medvetet närvarande i vardagen. Resultatet bör utvärderas genom replikering och vidare studier bör undersöka andra aspekter som kan ha betydelse för sexuell nöjdhet. Huruvida mindfulness-baserade insatser skulle kunna ge positiva effekter på sexuell nöjdhet, särskilt för individer med otrygg anknytning, är en fråga för framtida forskning. / Research on sexual health is often based on a pathological perspective and rarely emphasize sex as health-promoting. Sexual satisfaction is one health-promoting aspect that can be described as an individuals’ cognitive and emotional attitudes towards their own sexual activity. Experiences of close relationships and the tendency to be mindful could be of significance to these attitudes.  This study aims to examine the relationship between adult attachment, dispositional mindfulness (i.e., tendency to be mindful in everyday life) and sexual satisfaction. A secondary aim was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Sexual Satisfaction Questionnaire (SSQ) in Swedish. A total of 158 respondents were included in this study after participating in an online survey containing the self-assessment questionnaires Erfarenheter av Nära Relationer (ENR), Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ_SWE) and SSQ. The results showed correlations between the variables and that the relationship between adult attachment and sexual satisfaction appears to be mediated by dispositional mindfulness. The results indicate that SSQ is a reliable scale. In conclusion secure attachment and higher levels of dispositional mindfulness are associated with higher levels of sexual satisfaction. Lower sexual satisfaction among individuals with more attachment anxiety and/or avoidance could be explained by their tendency to be less mindful in everyday life. The results should be evaluated through replication and further studies ought to investigate other aspects that may be of significance for sexual satisfaction. Whether mindfulness-based interventions could have positive effects on sexual satisfaction, especially for individuals with insecure attachment, is an issue for future research.

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