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Balancing typological and dimensional approaches: Assessment of adult attachment styles with Factor Mixture Analysis.

ABSTRACT: Many studies show the importance of adult attachment styles and their impact on social and emotional adaptation in adulthood. However, there is no agreement about whether attachment should be regarded as typological or dimensional, and some authors have proposed reconciling both options, so that adult attachment styles can be assessed more accurately and realistically. In this study we have adopted this comprehensive view and used Factor Mixture Analysis, the most appropriate model for assessing this mixture view. More specifically, we attempted to determine the nature and types (if any) of attachment styles that can be assessed with the Adult Attachment Questionnaire (CAA), using this mixture view. A total of 515 adults from Spain took part, with ages between 18 and 56 years old. In addition to the CAA questionnaire, they completed the Parental Bonding Instrument and the emotional stability subscale of the Overall Personality Assessment Scale. On the basis of the CAA scores, the results show that only two profiles-insecure attachment and normal-range-can be univocally differentiated. Furthermore, the results of a full multiple-group structural model show that each of these profiles has a different pattern of validity relations with the external variables maternal care, maternal overprotection and emotional stability. These differential validity results reinforce the general hypothesis that two differentiated clusters of individuals can be distinguished on the basis of the responses to the CAA items.

SUBMITTER: Morales-Vives F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8266088 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Parenting styles vary in levels of both warmth and control, with evidence that type of parenting behavior is linked with social-emotional and other developmental outcomes for children. There are well-established associations between adult attachment and parenting styles. Given emerging evidence that people with different attachment patterns vary in how they receive and modulate sensory information, there are potential implications for parenting which have rarely received research attention. This cross-sectional study investigates the links between parenting style and parental sensory sensitivity, and the possible mediating role of parental sensory sensitivity in the relationship between adult attachment and parenting styles. A convenience sample of 155 parents of children aged 4-12 years old completed an online survey measuring: adult attachment (Experiences in Close Relationships-Modified 16-item Scale), sensory sensitivity (Highly Sensitive Persons Scale-Shortened Version), and parenting styles (Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire). Correlation, regression and mediation analyses were conducted. Analyses revealed that parents who reported more attachment insecurity also reported higher levels of parental sensory sensitivity, and more authoritarian and/or permissive (non-optimal) parenting styles. Parental sensory sensitivity was found to fully mediate the relationship between attachment avoidance and permissive parenting, and to partially mediate the relationship between attachment anxiety and both authoritarian and permissive parenting. This study represents the first quantitative evidence for associations between parental sensory sensitivity and parenting styles, and the mediating effect of parental sensory sensitivity on the known relationship between attachment insecurity and parenting. Awareness of a parent's level of sensory sensitivity, in addition to his/her attachment style, may assist in developing effective strategies to meet both the parent's and child's needs and support the parent-child relationship.

Project description:ObjectivesParanoia is known to be associated with insecure attachment, with negative self-esteem as a mediator, but this pathway is insufficient to explain the paranoid individual's beliefs about malevolent others. Mistrust is a likely additional factor as it is a core feature of paranoid thinking also associated with insecure attachment styles. In this study, we tested whether mistrust - operationalized as judgements about the trustworthiness of unfamiliar faces - constitutes a second pathway from insecure attachment to paranoia.DesignThe design of the study was cross-sectional.MethodsA nationally representative British sample of 1,508 participants aged 18-86, 50.8% female, recruited through the survey company Qualtrics, completed measurements of attachment style, negative self-esteem, and paranoid beliefs. Usable data were obtained from 1,121 participants. Participants were asked to make trustworthiness judgements about computer-generated faces, and their outcomes were analysed by conducting signal detection analysis, which provided measures of bias (the tendency to assume untrustworthiness in conditions of uncertainty) and sensitivity (accuracy in distinguish between trustworthy and untrustworthy faces).ResultsResults using structural equation modelling revealed a good model fit (RMSEA = .071, 95% CI: 0.067-0.075, SRMR = .045, CFI = .93, TLI = .92). We observed indirect effects through bias towards mistrust both for the relationship between attachment anxiety and avoidance (β = .003, 95% CI: 0.001-0.005,p < .001) and attachment anxiety and paranoia (β = .003, 95% CI 0.002-0.006, p < .001). We observed an indirect effect through negative self-esteem only for the relationship between attachment anxiety and paranoia (β = .064, 95% CI: 0.053-0.077, p < .001). Trust judgements and negative self-esteem were not associated with each other.ConclusionsWe find that a bias towards mistrust is associated with greater paranoia. We also find indirect effects through bias towards mistrust between attachment styles and paranoia. Finally, we reaffirm the strong indirect effect through negative self-esteem between attachment anxiety and paranoia. Limitations of the study are discussed.Practitioner pointsWhen working with individuals suffering from paranoia, clinicians should consider not only explicit, deliberative cognitive processes of the kind addressed in cognitive behaviour therapy (e.g. cognitive restructuring) but also the way in which their patients make perceptual judgements (e.g., their immediate reactions on encountering new people) and consider interventions targeted at these judgements, for example, bias modification training. Assessment and clinical interventions for people should consider the role of trust judgements and the way in which they combine with low self-esteem to provoke paranoid beliefs. Psychological interventions targeting paranoid beliefs should focus on both attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance.

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Balancing typological and dimensional approaches: Assessment of adult attachment styles with Factor Mixture Analysis.

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