The relationship between anger and depression in a clinical sample of young men: the role of insecure attachment.
BACKGROUND
Even though the relevance of insecure attachment in the etiology of dysfunctional anger is indicated by a number of findings, few studies have examined the relationship between anger and depression from the perspective of attachment theory.


METHODS
Self-reported measures of trait anger, depression, and adult attachment style were simultaneously administered to 87 young men with clinically significant depressive symptoms.


RESULTS
Higher levels of trait anger were associated with an insecure style of attachment. Such an association remained significant after controlling for the severity of depressive symptoms. In a multiple regression model, both a measure of anxious attachment and a measure of avoidant attachment emerged as independent predictors of trait anger.


CONCLUSIONS
The study was cross-sectional and the sample did not include women.


CONCLUSIONS
Insecure attachment is a useful predictor of anger experience among patients with depressive symptoms.
Troisi
Alfonso
A
Department of Neurosciences, University of Rome Tor Vergata, via Guattani 14, 00161 Rome, Italy. alfonso.troisi@uniroma2.it
D'Argenio
Alberto
A
D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger; D001007:Anxiety; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales