Adult attachment, alexithymia, and symptom reporting: an extension to the four category model of attachment.
OBJECTIVE
A previous study using a three-category attachment model found that avoidant attachment was associated with increased symptom reporting, and that this relationship was largely mediated by negative affectivity and alexithymia. The present study aimed to advance on these findings by using a four-category model of attachment to determine which aspect of avoidant attachment (fearful or dismissing) is related to symptom reporting, and via which mediating variables.


METHODS
One hundred and forty-two male and female undergraduates, aged 17-44, completed questionnaire measures of attachment style, alexithymia, self-esteem, positive and negative affectivity, and symptom reporting.


RESULTS
Fearful and preoccupied attachment styles, negative affectivity, and alexithymia were all significantly associated with increased symptom reporting, while the dismissing attachment style was not. Regression analyses showed that the relationship between fearful attachment and symptom reporting was partly, but not fully, mediated by alexithymia and negative affectivity, while that between preoccupied attachment and symptom reporting was mediated mainly by negative affectivity. Low self-esteem was associated with symptom reporting only via its association with negative affectivity.


CONCLUSIONS
Fearful and preoccupied attachment styles are both associated with symptom reporting via a negative model of the self and increased negative affectivity, but alexithymia is an additional predictor of symptom reporting in individuals with fearful attachment. This difference is thought to be linked to the model of others developed in early interactions with caregivers.
Wearden
Alison J
AJ
School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M139PL, UK. alison.wearden@manchester.ac.uk
Lamberton
Naomi
N
Crook
Nicola
N
Walsh
Victoria
V
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D009769:Object Attachment; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011594:Psychometrics; D019962:Reactive Attachment Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012649:Self Concept; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires