According to adult attachment theory (Hazan and Shaver, 1987), people's levels of insecure attachment, both anxious and avoidant, are associated with their abilities to regulate emotions in a relational context. This study is the first to test emotion dysregulation as a mediator for the relationships between levels of insecure attachment and psychological aggression using dyadic data. Cross-sectional, self-report data were collected from 110 couples presenting for couple or family therapy at an outpatient clinic. Data were analyzed using path analysis informed by the Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediational Model (APIMeM; Ledermann, Macho and Kenny, 2011). While the findings did not support a mediating role of emotion dysregulation between levels of anxious or avoidant attachment and psychological aggression, results indicated direct partner effects between people's own levels of anxious attachment and their partners' psychological aggression. Higher levels of anxious attachment were associated with higher levels of emotion dysregulation in both males and females; higher levels of avoidant attachment were only associated with higher levels of emotions dysregulation in females. Limitations and clinical implications for couple therapists are discussed. / Master of Science / People have characteristic ways of interacting with their partners when experiencing distressing emotions—described as attachment dimensions—depending on factors like their comfort with vulnerability, self-worth, and confidence in their partners to provide support. Difficulties managing distressing emotions have been linked with psychological aggression between partners. This study examined if and how much difficulties managing emotions explain the relationships between people’s attachment dimensions and psychological aggression between partners. Although difficulties managing emotions did not explain this relationship, they were related to people’s own attachment orientations. People who were preoccupied with seeking reassurance from their partners, and who had low self-concept, were more likely to experience psychological aggression from their partners. Knowing that this way of interacting with partners is linked with increased likelihood of psychological aggression, couple therapists can work with partners to learn strategies to better self-regulate their own emotions and manage reactivity to each other to decrease psychological aggression.
<i>Keywords</i>: emotion dysregulation, adult attachment, psychological aggression, couples
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/77880 |
| Date | 01 June 2017 |
| Creators | Cheche, Rachel Elizabeth |
| Contributors | Human Development, Jackson, Jeffrey Brown, Falconier, Mariana K., Muruthi, Bertranna Alero |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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