This study attempted to investigate father attachment using the dual primary attachment figure model by examining caregiving and exploration behaviors of mothers and fathers as they relate to attachment security utilizing an archival data set of 177 young adult females. A subsequent factor analysis of the involvement scales revealed four distinct items creating the caregiving variables (one for mother and one for father) and six items creating the exploration variables. Results showed that mothers engaged in caregiving and exploration behaviors more than fathers, but their exploration predicted mother attachment more than caregiving. Fathers engaged in more caregiving than exploration, but it was their involvement in exploration that was more strongly related to father attachment. These findings, which provide partial support for the dual primary attachment figure model, suggest that father exploration is a cornerstone for the father-child attachment relationship, but also predictive of mother-child attachment. Future studies should include observational assessments of father attachment as well as exploration in current assessments of father attachment.

The attachment of a child and his or her caregiver is a bond that helps tie them together emotionally. The most important principle of attachment theory is the need of a child to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for healthy emotional and social development to occur. The majority of attachment research has focused primarily on mother-child attachment, minimizing fathers' contributions to attachment. The current study examined attachment of both mothers and fathers in two-parent families. Research questions focused on the relationship between mother-child attachment and father-child attachment, the relationship between child temperament and father-child attachment security, and whether the amount of time each parent is away from his/her child predicts attachment security. The participants in this study consisted of 50 sets of parents (100 participants) who had at least one child between the ages of 3-5. The relationship between father-child and mother-child attachment was not significant. Likewise, the relationship between child temperament and parent-child attachment was not significant. Also, parents' time away from their child was not a significant predictor of attachment. Further research is needed with more ethnicities and cultures represented; a more balanced sample of economic classes; mothers who work more hours outside of the home; and the use of more impartial, third party observation measures to assess attachment and child temperament.

This thesis explores the utility of Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 1969; 1973; 1980) as a framework for understanding both the personality and cognitive processing styles associated with depression and vulnerability to depression. In two separate but related studies, the present investigation identified depressive personality characteristics and depressive cognitive processing styles associated with each of the styles of adult attachment defined by Bartholomew and Horowitz's (1991) four-category attachment model. Using self-report data from a sample of 305 respondents (225 female; 80 male), Study 1 explored associations among each of the adult attachment styles and sociotropic and autonomous personality-based vulnerabilities to depression (Beck, 1983). Extending the work of Zuroff and Fitzpatrick (1995; Study 2), associations among the attachment styles and the specific components of the two depressive personality styles, as defined by Robins et al. (1994), were examined. Using cued recall of autobiographical memories for a subsample of 44 of the same respondents (35 female; 9 male), Study 2 explored attachment style group differences in autobiographical memory retrieval, thereby identifying specific depressive cognitive processing biases associated with each adult attachment style. Past research has focused on the assessment of memory accessibility, using either recall latency (Mikulincer & Orbach, 1995; Mikulincer, 1998a) or memory generality (Tasker, MacLeod & Maynard, 1996) to indicate accessibility. In the present study, both latency and generality were used as indicators of memory accessibility, and the content of memories was also examined. In addition, use of a four-category rather than a three-category measure of attachment style permitted distinction of cognitive biases for the fearful-avoidant and dismissive-avoidant styles. The present findings support a notion that the two adult attachment styles understood to be characterised by a negative self-view, namely fearful and preoccupied attachment, are associated with depressive vulnerability. Replicating previous findings (Carnelley, Pietromonaco & Jaffe, 1994), both the fearful and preoccupied styles were associated with state depression and with perceptions of negative parental bonding. The fearful style in particular was associated with perceptions of 'affectionless control' in childhood. As the major focus of this thesis, the fearful and preoccupied attachment styles were each associated with both personality styles and cognitive processing deficits which have previously been linked with depression and depressive vulnerability. In terms of personality styles (Study I), the fearful attachment style was broadly associated with the autonomous personality style, whereas the preoccupied attachment style was broadly associated with the sociotropic personality style, as previously demonstrated by Zuroff and Fitzpatrick (1995; Study 2). By focusing on associations with the individual components of the autonomous and sociotropic vulnerabilities, as defined by Robins et al. (1994), the more specific 'depressive' personality characteristics were identified for both these insecure attachment styles. In particular, the findings suggest that a fearful attachment style involves both avoidant and self-critical characteristics, whereas a preoccupied attachment style involves both dependent and self-critical characteristics. In terms of cognitive processing deficits (Study 2), fearful individuals had difficulty accessing autobiographical memories, indicated by delayed memory recall and reduced memory specificity across a range of memory cues. Indeed, these individuals demonstrated a globalised 'mnemonic interlock' typical of depressed individuals (Williams, 1996) and their memories were predominantly negative in content. In contrast, preoccupied individuals demonstrated a ruminative cognitive processing style, indicated by relatively fast recall of predominantly specific and negative memories across a range of memory cues. However, these individuals had difficulty accessing personally-relevant memories of abandonment, arguably due to both encoding and retrieval deficits emanating from their hypersensitivity to abandonment experiences. Dismissive attachment was associated with the avoidant but not the self-critical aspect of the autonomous personality style and involved a repressive cognitive processing style. This repressive style was indicated by delayed recall of specific negative memories. Nonetheless, unlike the fearful and preoccupied styles, dismissive attachment was not shown to be associated with state depression, suggesting that an avoidant attachment style does not necessarily contribute to depressive vulnerability. Instead, dismissive individuals' use of defensive repression of negative affects and memories appears to be an effective coping mechanism in the maintenance of a positive self-concept and a non-self-critical approach. Furthermore, in light of self-narrative models of personality (e.g., McAdams, 1993; Bruhn, 1990; 1992; 1995; Singer & Salovey, 1993), dismissive individuals' easy access to positive memories, particularly personally-relevant memories of independence, can be viewed as maintaining their positive self-concept. Overall, the findings of the present thesis support the proposition that Attachment Theory provides a framework for understanding both the personality and cognitive processing styles associated with depression. Indeed, the findings suggest that the fearful and preoccupied adult attachment styles can both be regarded as constituting vulnerability factors for depression. As expected, the fearful attachment style was highlighted as conferring greater depressive vulnerability. Thus, the findings provide further insight into the factors involved in the onset and maintenance of depression and highlight the importance of assessing adult attachment style during therapy for depression. Other clinical implications, as well as directions for future research, are outlined.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisor: Mary Dozier, Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references.

Thirty-two infants and their parents were observed at 6 months in the Face-to-Face/Still-Face (FFSF) paradigm. Attachment security was assessed in the Strange Situation Paradigm (SSP) at 15 months. Eighteen of these infants had an older sibling with a clinically diagnosed ASD (ASD-siblings) and 14 had older siblings with no ASD (comparison-siblings). Results suggested that at fifteen months, before diagnostic outcomes are available, ASD-sibs are no more likely to evidence insecurity in attachment, or attachment disorganization, than are COMP-sibs. Additionally, 15-month secure and insecure infants differed with respect to 6-month gazing at their parent's face during the still-face (SF) and reunion (RE) episodes as well as the amount they were tickled by their parent in the RE episode. Parent tickling in the RE episode appeared to be differentially associated with later attachment security between ASD and COMP-sibs. For COMP-sibs insecurity in attachment at 15-months was associated with more parent tickling in the RE episode. For ASD-sibs it was not. Results suggest that infant and parent emotional behaviors at 6 months of age in a standardized emotion-eliciting paradigm provide a window into the processes of developing attachment security.

Body dissatisfaction has become commonplace, however, it has been associated with several detrimental outcomes, including eating disorders, depression, and suicidality. Despite having larger Body Mass Indexes, African American women have reported more satisfaction with their bodies than Caucasian American women. Anxious attachment has been found to relate to body dissatisfaction; however, this study was the first to explore whether this relationship differs across ethnic groups. American societal beliefs about attractiveness and ethnic identity were also explored as potential moderators of the relationship between anxious attachment and body dissatisfaction. Purposive sampling was used to identify students from colleges with diverse ethnic representation for recruitment. Participants were 233 Caucasian American and 108 African American women recruited from ethnically diverse colleges in the Northeast and Southeast United States. Hypotheses were tested using hierarchical multiple regression and one-way analysis of covariance. Past findings regarding ethnic differences in body dissatisfaction were replicated as were findings regarding ethnic differences in attachment styles and the relationship between anxious attachment and body dissatisfaction, even after controlling for negative affect. Results of the primary analyses indicated no moderation by ethnicity of the relationship between anxious attachment and body dissatisfaction. Beliefs about attractiveness was found to moderate this relationship for Caucasian American but not African American women, and there was a trend for the moderation of the relationship between anxious attachment and body dissatisfaction by ethnic identity for the African American women in this sample. Implications for prevention and therapeutic interventions are discussed.

This study examined the relation between attachment characteristics and intimacy experienced after one’s attachment style is activated. Attachment theory states that when an individual feels threatened by an attachment figure, attachment style is activated and dictates how that individual relates to his or her partner in that situation. This study tests this theory. Data were collected on 110 committed romantic couples from the community. Each individual completed a series of questionnaires, including the Adult Attachment Questionnaire. Couples then engaged in a series of four videotaped interactions in which both partners had an opportunity to discuss times in which their feelings were hurt by someone other than their partner and times in which their feelings were hurt by their partner. These interactions were regarded as low- and high-risk, respectively. The high-risk interaction was specifically targeted to activate attachment style and elicit attachment behaviors. Analyses were conducted using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM). This model takes into account the interdependence of observations between partners. As a function of this model, both actor effects (the effect one’s own attachment style has on one’s own experiences of intimacy) and partner effects (the effect one’s own attachment style has on one’s partner’s experiences of intimacy) were examined. Intimacy was conceptualized in two different manners: state (post-interaction intimacy) and trait (overall intimacy in the relationship). It was hypothesized that individuals with insecure attachment characteristics would report lower feelings of both state and trait intimacy compared to securely attached individuals. It was also predicted that the partners of individuals with insecure attachment characteristics would report lower state and trait intimacy following the high-risk interaction compared to partners of secure individuals. The results of this study supported these hypotheses. Models testing the effect of the attachment characteristics avoidance, ambivalence, and avoidance-x-ambivalence found a relation between the presence of insecure attachment characteristics and lower levels of both state and trait intimacy. Implications of these results and future directions of study are discussed.

A large body of research exists relative to male aggression. Studies over the past 30 years, especially as related to male-to-female intimacy violence in a domestic context, have contributed greatly to a better understanding of aggressive male behavior. However, it is suggested that a more balanced approach to research on aggression should include studies related to female aggression. A search of the current literature indicates that this process has begun; however, studies tend to report a different dynamic at work in aggressive women versus aggressive men. It appears that overall, female aggression more than male aggression, has a stronger relational component. It is the case that females can be aggressive and place substantial importance on the relationships in their lives. Attachment theory addresses the salient issue of relationships and is such a broad and complete theory that it incorporates aggressive behaviors as well. Therefore, this study seeks to expand the research related to attachment styles and associated behaviors, in particular as they pertain to the influences upon female aggressive behavior. A study of the relationship between the independent variables of gender, psychopathology/personality, and attachment style and the dependent variable of aggression was conducted. It was hypothesized that attachment style would be a better predictor of female aggression as compared to psychopathology. Additionally, it was hypothesized that psychopathology would be a better predictor of male aggression as compared to attachment style. Significant results were obtained suggesting that attachment is a better predictor of female aggression than psychopathology, with a non-significant observation indicating the reverse being true of males. Specific gender differences related to aggression and violent behavior are presented. Current trends applicable to theories of aggression are discussed, as well as suggestions for future research.

This study examined a measure of children's memory for information from a story about a hypothetical mother and child, the Story Task, as a potential tool to delineate subtypes of aggressive children based on the pattern of information processing revealed through their Story Task performance. The Story Task scores of 263 second and third grade aggressive children were subjected to a cluster analytic procedure. Although four apparently distinct subgroups emerged from the cluster analysis (negative recall, low recall, defensive processing, and positive projection), validation analyses of these clusters against external variables failed to reveal significant group differences. Potential exaplanations for the failure to find meaningful subgroups of aggressive children and general limitations of the study are discussed.

In healthy adult relationships both participants serve as attachment figures and caregivers, with each partner seeking and providing care for the other as needed (Hazan & Shaver, 1987). However, chronic illness may result in one individual requiring disproportionately more care without being able to fully reciprocate. The purpose of this research was to investigate the relevance of attachment as a predictor of care receiving, relationship, and health related variables, in a sample of adults experiencing a chronic illness. This investigation employed survey methodology, and 68 individuals with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) participated. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses supported theoretically derived hypotheses. Attachment, conceptualized in terms of the orthogonal constructs of attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance, was found to be a relevant construct in predicting self-reported reaction to care receiving, relationship functioning and quality of life in a sample of individuals with MS. Analyses revealed that elevated attachment anxiety is associated with feelings such as anger, embarrassment, and indebtedness in response to receiving help, while elevated attachment avoidance predicted care receiver perceptions that they were being discouraged from continued independence. In terms of relationship functioning, care receivers with elevated attachment anxiety and care receivers with elevated attachment avoidance reported less trust, acceptance, and intimacy in their relationships, and were less committed to their relationships and their relationship partners. Additionally, elevated attachment avoidance was predictive of lower overall relationship satisfaction. Finally, elevated attachment anxiety predicted poorer mental health and overall quality of life, while elevated attachment avoidance predicted poorer physical health. Interactions between attachment constructs and type of caregiver (spouse/partner vs. other) were observed in several analyses suggesting that attachment anxiety exerts its strongest influence within committed relationships, whereas the power of attachment avoidance appears to be generally more pervasive. The results of this investigation can be understood within the context of the biopsychosocial model of coping with chronic illness. Knowledge of attachment style may be clinically useful as it provides insight into individuals behaviour and emotional experiences in relationships. Attachment- informed interventions may lead to improvement in relationships and subsequent improvement in psychological functioning and physical heath.