Exploring the Relationships among Attachment, Emotion Regulation, Differentiation of Self, Negative Problem Orientation, Self-esteem, Worry, and Generalized Anxiety
Year: 2016
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This study attempted to provide preliminary empirical support for an emerging model of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) stemming from an emotion-focused therapy (EFT) perspective, which views GAD as reflecting negative self-organizations and emotion dysregulation as a function of attachment injuries (Watson Greenberg, in press). It has done so by examining negative early attachment experiences and attachment styles, as representing attachment injuries; differentiation of self, negative problem orientation, and self-esteem, as representing negative self-organization; and emotion dysregulation, and by investigating the relationships among these variables and their contribution to generalized anxiety and worry. Following on suggestion of previous research (Ruscio, 2002; Ruscio Borkovec, 2004; Ruscio et al., 2001) indicating that worry, while characteristic of GAD, exists independently of GAD and therefore would benefit from being studied in its own right, this study examined worry and generalized anxiety separately. Cross-sectional data was collected from 218 participants who completed self-report questionnaires assessing demographics and variables of interest. Results indicated that negative early attachment experiences are significantly and positively related to generalized anxiety and worry. Findings from correlational analysis demonstrated that negative early experiences with fathers were associated with worry in adulthood whereas negative early experiences with both parents as well as perceptions of unfair family interactions were related to generalized anxiety symptoms. Multiple mediation analysis using PROCESS (Hayes, 2012) revealed a different pattern of mediation for insecure adult attachment and worry than for insecure adult attachment and generalized anxiety. Negative problem orientation and differentiation of self mediated the relationship between insecure adult attachment and worry, whereas negative problem orientation and self-esteem mediated the relationship between insecure adult attachment and generalized anxiety. Implications of these findings for the understanding of GAD are discussed.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Aline Rodrigues
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2593895294