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This thesis reports the findings of a replication of a segment of previous research in which level of emotional attachment to former spouse was measured, and relationships of that measurement to particular variables were explored. The hypotheses are based on characteristics expected to be related to attachment in the context of marital separation and divorce. The data reveal that neither length of marriage nor length of time since physical separation bears a relationship to level of attachment. There is no difference in levels of attachment for males and females. Level of attachment is higher for those individuals who wanted the divorce less than for those who wanted the divorce more. Both expectedness of the divorce and preparedness for the consequences of divorce are related negatively to level of attachment.

Many women in prison are likely to have children, but for various reasons may not be playing the role of primary caregiver prior to incarceration, and may be unable to fulfill this role when released. This research was designed to investigate the interpersonal difficulties that may contribute to the parenting problems of this unique population. Female offenders have an increased likelihood of personality pathology and history of abuse, creating a set of circumstances that affect these women's ability to have satisfactory relationships. This may be manifested in an orientation towards relationships that could be classified as an insecure attachment style, although it is not the relationship per se that is classified as an insecure attachment style; rather, the insecure attachment style (or pattern) refers to the individual's view of themselves and others, and their attachment style may then influence their responses to others in intimate relationships (e.g., their warmth, caregiving, jealousy, ability to trust, etc). The female offender population provides a distinctive opportunity for investigating the relationships between attachment styles and incarcerated women's personality pathology, experiences with their primary caregivers, as well as their own experiences as mothers. The attachment styles of one hundred eleven incarcerated female inmates were assessed using the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ; Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991) and the Experience in Close Relationships Inventory (ECRI; Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998), and a sub-sample of these women were interviewed using the Peer Attachment Interview (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991). Offenders were also assessed for quality of relationships with parents using the Egna Minnen Betraffande Uppfostran (EMBU; Perris, Jacobsson, Lindstrom, von Knorring, & Perris, 1980), as well as with children using the Parental Stress Scale (PSS; Berry & Jones, 1995) and a Parental Bonding Interview (created specifically for this research to gather information about parent-child relationships, the level of caregiving provided to the child, and the mother's subjective account of her parenting experiences). The SCID-Il Clinical Interview (First, Gibbon, Spitzer, Williams, & Benjamin, 1997) was used to assess for personality disorder characteristics, which have been found in previous research to be prevalent in female offender populations. It was found that three-quarters of the women in the sample had given birth to children, however, 88.4% were no longer playing the role of primary caregiver upon incarceration. Nearly 61% of respondents claimed that social services had taken at least one child away, and 38.2% claimed that they had voluntarily given their children away. Reasons for no longer having custody varied, but the majority of women (70%) reported that drug and alcohol abuse was a major factor. Further, it was found that women in the sample were characterized by insecure attachment styles. Characteristics of personality disorders were present in over 73% of the sample. Results showed a high rate of abuse in childhood by primary caregivers, high levels of parental rejection, and low levels of parental warmth. In addition, participants reported unstable relationships with the fathers of their children. Further, the presence of an insecure attachment style was related to higher mean number of personality disorder characteristics, higher reported means of maternal and paternal rejection, and higher reported means of emotional and physical abuse by fathers. Impression management was found to be an issue with the respect to the majority of the measured utilized in the research. The goal of this research was to attain a greater understanding of the interpersonal difficulties of the female offender population, and how family, romantic, and peer relationships are related to parenting difficulties for these women. These issues, as well as limitations surrounding the use of current attachment measures, are discussed herein.

The purpose of this preliminary and exploratory research project was to identify possible links between insecure male attachment patterns and wife assault. Attachment theory suggests that the quality of early interpersonal relationships has a profound effect on the psychological, emotional and social development of the individual. Insecure attachment has been found to be associated with a number of relationship problems and these interpersonal problems have also been identified with men who assault their wives. Based on this similarity, the insecure attachment paradigm may offer a useful theoretical orientation for understanding the conflict behaviours of men who assault their wives. The sample of fifty adult men who had assaulted their female partners was drawn from two therapy groups. In this preliminary and exploratory study, a number of measures were used to assess each man's mental representation of childhood attachment and his adult intimate attachment patterns, intimate conflict tactics and interpersonal jealousy and anger problems. The associations between insecure preoccupied, dismissing, and fearful attachment pattern ratings and male conflict tactic and relationship problems were then analyzed. The findings indicated that men who assault their wives had a high proportion of insecure adult intimate attachment patterns. These assaultive men were also found to be predominantly insecure in both their mental representations of childhood attachment and adult intimate attachment pattern ratings, with the greatest continuity occurring with the insecure preoccupied and fearful pattern ratings. Three patterns of relationship problems corresponding to the three insecure adult intimate attachment pattern rating were found. Preoccupied attachment pattern ratings were positively correlated with interpersonal jealousy scores and the reported use of the reasoning, verbal/symbolic abuse, physical abuse and severe physical abuse conflict tactics. Dismissing attachment pattern ratings were positively correlated with interpersonal anger scores and negatively correlated with the reasoning, verbal, physical and severe physical abuse conflict tactics. Fearful attachment pattern ratings were similar to the dismissing pattern in the positive correlation with interpersonal anger scores. The importance of considering insecure adult intimate attachment pattern ratings when providing group therapy to men who assault their wives was considered. Men with high insecure dismissing adult intimate attachment pattern ratings seem to require a distinctly different therapeutic approach than those with high insecure preoccupied adult intimate attachment pattern ratings and ideas in this regard are discussed.

Attachment theories emphasize the importance of a secure attachment at all stages in life. In secure attachment relationships, individuals are confident that during times of real or perceived distress they can rely on the attachment figure to provide desired security. Conversely, individuals with insecure attachments feel they cannot rely on their attachment figures and thus will not be comforted in times of need. Lack of secure attachments can lead to psychological and behavioral difficulties. In the present study, maternal and peer attachments were investigated and related to levels of self-reported delinquency among 84 First Nations adolescent students, ages 11 to 17 from a reserve in a remote geographic location. The results from the present study appear to be congruent with the literature which reports that insecure attachments in youths lead to higher rates of delinquent behaviors. High levels of secure attachments in the participants resulted in low levels of reported delinquency, however the relationship between attachment and delinquency in adolescent participants was found to be dependent on the grade in school and gender interaction.

Although growing evidence suggests that relational victimization is harmful to children as it occurs and shortly after, less is known about the potential long-term effects. The present study develops and validates a retrospective measure of childhood relational victimization experiences. A model is tested of the relations between childhood relational victimization experiences and early parental attachment quality on early adult psychological and social adjustment factors such as peer attachment quality, loneliness, and social anxiety, as mediated by rejection sensitivity. It has been proposed that early parental attachment quality, mediated by rejection sensitivity, may largely impact adult functioning (Downey, Khouri, & Feldman, 1997), but childhood relational victimization may also affect this psychosocial functioning. The Retrospective Relational Victimization Questionnaire (RRVQ) was developed and validated for this study to measure past relational victimization experiences. The primary study used structural equation modeling to assess a primary model of how both childhood parental attachment quality and relational victimization contribute to the experience of rejection sensitivity and in turn affects early adult functioning. A comparison is made with an alternative model which included only early parental attachment as a predictor of early adult adjustment. The RRVQ was found to be a reliable and valid measure of college students’ retrospectively recalled childhood relational victimization experiences. Neither the primary nor the alternative model was found to be well-fitting; however, additional exploratory results suggest that both early parental attachment and relational victimization experiences are significantly associated with current rejection sensitivity, while early relational victimization is somewhat more associated with current adult peer attachment, loneliness, and social anxiety than is early parental attachment. Educational, clinical, and research implications are discussed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Thesis (MPsychology(Clinical))--University of South Australia, 2001.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--St. Mary's University, San Antonio, Texas, 2007. / "December 2007." Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-100).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Feb. 28, 2008). Directed by Susan D. Calkins; submitted to the Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references (p. 36-42).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Mar. 11, 2008). Directed by Esther M. Leerkes; submitted to the School of Human Environmental Sciences. Includes bibliographical references (p. 39-47).