Year: 2003
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Decades of research on attachment style has resulted in a plethora of \nassessment techniques and an imprecise taxonomy of styles. Beginning with an \nassumption that interpersonal connections are revealed in the words used to \ndiscuss those relationships, the current studies were designed to investigate the \nefficacy of a language-based approach to discriminating attachment styles. \nBecause recent research has shown that small words such as pronouns are \npsychologically important (e.g., Pennebaker & Stone, in press), Study 1 explored \nthe patterns of word use that best predicted attachment styles in a sample of Adult \nAttachment Interviews (AAI; George, Kaplan & Main, 1985/1996) of married \ncouples (N=214). A multinomial logistic regression using theoretically-selected \nword categories resulted in correct categorizations of 82.3% of cases (secure \n82.4%, dismissing 87.6%, and preoccupied 62.5%). Applying the resulting \nequations to the AAI resulted in correct classification of 50% of cases. Predicting \nto a different criterion, the Adult Attachment Scale (AAS; Collins & Read, 1990), \nprovided a slightly more effective set of categorizations (58%). There were \ntheoretically relevant differences among attachment styles in the use of pronouns \nand emotional words. Study 2 (N=201) was designed to apply the model derived \nin Study 1 to a sample of college students using the AAS as a criterion. In \naddition, Study 2 employed a writing intervention designed to change the \nattachment styles of insecurely attached students. Participants in the experimental \ncondition wrote five essays about their family experiences across a semester in \nresponse to a prompt assembled from AAI questions. The Study 1 model \nremained a significant predictor of attachment style in Study 2, correctly \nclassifying 51% at Time 1 and 61% at Time 5. Participants in the writing \nintervention condition did not change attachment styles as a function of condition, \nbut there were some beneficial effects of condition on selected adjustment \nvariables including coping and social integration. The inability of the writing \nintervention to influence attachment style change is discussed in the context of the \nsocial nature of attachment style.
Author: Lori D. Stone
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1846988795