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Attached but Lonely: Emotional Intelligence as a Mediator and Moderator between Attachment Styles and Loneliness.

ABSTRACT: (1) Background: The aim of the presented research was to examine if emotional intelligence (EI) could be regarded as a mechanism mediating the relationship between attachment and loneliness. The authors also tested the moderating role of this variable, investigating whether EI was a protective factor against loneliness in insecurely attached individuals. (2) Methods: In two cross-sectional studies (N = 246 in Study 1 and N = 186 in Study 2), participants completed a set of questionnaires measuring attachment styles, trait emotional intelligence, and loneliness. (3) Results: Both studies revealed a consistent pattern of results, indicating a dual role of EI in the relationships between attachment styles and loneliness. Firstly, EI was a mediator between attachment and loneliness-both anxious and avoidant attachment were associated with a low level of EI, which in turn translated into increased loneliness. Secondly, EI moderated the relationship between anxious attachment and loneliness. It turned out that the strength of the positive relationship between anxious attachment and loneliness decreased with an increase in EI. (4) Conclusions: These results point to EI as an underlying mechanism between insecure attachment and loneliness. They also suggest that EI is an important psychological resource protecting anxiously attached individuals against a subjective sense of social isolation.

SUBMITTER: Borawski D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9690062 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Attached but Lonely: Emotional Intelligence as a Mediator and Moderator between Attachment Styles and Loneliness.

Borawski Dominik D Sojda Martyna M Rychlewska Karolina K Wajs Tomasz T

International journal of environmental research and public health 20221111 22

(1) Background: The aim of the presented research was to examine if emotional intelligence (EI) could be regarded as a mechanism mediating the relationship between attachment and loneliness. The authors also tested the moderating role of this variable, investigating whether EI was a protective factor against loneliness in insecurely attached individuals. (2) Methods: In two cross-sectional studies (<i>N</i> = 246 in Study 1 and <i>N</i> = 186 in Study 2), participants completed a set of question ...[more]

PMID: 36429549

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Loneliness in later life is largely presented as a problem of the individual focusing upon antecedents such as demographic or health factors. Research examining the role of the broader living environments is much rarer. We examined the relationship between loneliness and three dimensions of the lived environment: geographical region, deprivation, and area classification (urban or rural). METHODS:Our sample consisted of 4663 core members (44% males) aged 50+ (wave 7 mean age 72.8, S.D. = 7.1) present both in waves 3 (2006) and 7 (2014) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). Loneliness was measured using two approaches, individual and area-based, and both waves included these questions. Individual-based (self-reported) loneliness was assessed using the three item University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) scale (ranging from 3 = not lonely to 9 = lonely) with a score of 6+ defining loneliness. We also used a novel question which asked participants to evaluate how often they felt lonely in their area of residence (area-based; ranging from 1 = often to 7 = never, using cut off 4+ to define loneliness). The lived environment was classified in three different ways: the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), Government Office Regions (GOR), and area classification (urban or rural). Covariates with established relationship with loneliness including demographic factors, social engagement and health, were included in the analyses. RESULTS:In wave 7, the prevalence of individual-based loneliness was 18% and area-based was 25%. There was limited congruence between measures: 68% participants reported no individual- or area-based loneliness and 9% reported loneliness for both measures. After adjusting for individual co-variates only one significant relationship was observed between loneliness and area -based characteristics. A significant association was observed between area-based loneliness and deprivation score, with higher levels of loneliness in more deprived areas (OR = 1.4 for highest quintile of deprivation). CONCLUSIONS:Our results indicate that loneliness in older adults is higher in the most deprived areas independent of individual-level factors. In order to develop appropriate interventions further research is required to investigate how area-level factors combine with individual-level loneliness vulnerability measures to generate increased levels of loneliness in deprived areas.

Project description:The current study analyzed how trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) mediates the relationship between self-esteem and state anxiety and trait anxiety. The sample was composed of 153 undergraduate students from the University of Cádiz, Spain (71.9% women and 28.1% men). Students completed measures of self-esteem, state anxiety, trait anxiety, and trait EI. Mediation analyses were completed with three trait EI dimensions (EA, emotional attention; EC, emotional clarity; and MR, mood repair) as mediating variables, self-esteem as the independent variable, and state anxiety and trait anxiety as the dependent ones. Our results confirmed that self-esteem scores explained and predicted both, state and trait anxiety values (13% for state and 21% for trait anxiety). This explanatory capacity is increased by 8% when accounting for all trait EI dimensions. Considering state anxiety, the results of the direct effects showed that a decrease in their levels is predicted through the increases in the levels of both, self-esteem and MR. Regarding trait anxiety, the results of the direct effects showed that a decrease in their levels is predicted, in addition to an increment of self-esteem and MR values, by an increase of EC and a decrease of EA. Conversely, indirect effects revealed that higher levels of self-esteem were associated with worse scores in EA and worse MR, which in turn would enhance both state and trait anxiety levels. Moreover, regarding trait anxiety higher levels of self-esteem were associated with worse scores in EA and worse EC, therefore increasing trait anxiety levels. As shown, the negative association found between self-esteem and EA becomes a key element. The effect of self-esteem on EA and the influence that the latter had on EC and MR exerts an indirect mediated effect with the power to invert the influence that self-esteem wields on both types of anxiety. In this sense, the apparent protective role of self-esteem changed, turning into a risk factor that promotes higher anxiety values.

Project description:Past research regarding the emotional characteristics of kibbutz children raised with communal sleeping arrangements (CSA) showed inconsistent findings for emotional difficulties, such as insecure attachment and lowered ability for intimacy. Only little research has examined these children's emotional characteristics in their adulthood. Trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) is a new concept measuring a constellation of correlated emotional traits that capture a person's typical way of processing emotional information and reacting to it. The present study examined if difficulties in intimacy and trait EI characterize adults who had been raised in CSA kibbutzim (Hebrew plural of kibbutz). Participants comprised 1185 adults, aged 30-79, of whom 735 were raised in CSA kibbutzim, and the rest did not grow up in a Kibbutz at all. The participants completed three self-report questionnaires: Schutte's Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT) to measure trait EI; the Revised Adult Attachment Scale to measure adult attachment; and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Questionnaire to measure self-esteem. Results showed that most of the kibbutz CSA participants revealed levels of intimacy and trait EI comparable to the non-kibbutz group. However, a significant difference was found among adults with low self-esteem and poor attachment quality: For these participants, trait EI and intimacy were significantly lower for the CSA kibbutz group than for the non-kibbutz group. Furthermore, the CSA kibbutz group reported poorer non-verbal communication skills than the non-kibbutz group. We suggest that a minority of the CSA kibbutz children were less resilient to the kibbutz ecology. These children might have been more vulnerable to the effects of limited social options, decreased parental support, and the kibbutz education's ideological demands. For these children, the effects of communal upbringing on intimacy and attachment appear to be long-lasting, extending throughout their adulthood.

Dataset Information

Attached but Lonely: Emotional Intelligence as a Mediator and Moderator between Attachment Styles and Loneliness.

Publications

Attached but Lonely: Emotional Intelligence as a Mediator and Moderator between Attachment Styles and Loneliness.

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