Browsing by Subject "Adult attachment interview"
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Item Observation of nonverbal expressions as a sign of congruence during the adult attachment interview(2012-08) Lambert, Holly; Behrens, Kazuko; McCarty, Michael; Hart, Sybil L.The present study seeks to discover if video-recorded Adult Attachment Interviews (AAIs) can provide objective data that can be used to examine the relationship between the congruency of emotion-evoked nonverbal expression (facial/body expressions) and attachment security. In previous research, Roisman et al. (2004) found that individuals classified with secure/autonomous attachment expressed emotion consistent with the valence of their attachment experiences, and insecure, in particular preoccupied, individuals exhibited discrepancies between emotional expression and attachment experiences. The purpose of this study was to partially replicate and expand upon this research. In order to investigate this, the author created a novel coding system (the Nonverbal Expression Coding Scheme), which gave an overall congruence assessment (either congruent or incongruent) based on individuals’ adjective tones to describe their relationship with their mother (question 3 of the AAI) versus overall valence of facial/body expressions. Results indicated that when secure/congruent and insecure/incongruent association was analyzed, more participants with secure attachment statuses were congruent, and more participants with insecure attachment statuses were also incongruent, which is in line with Roisman et al.’s (2004) findings.Item Toward a developmental origin of the predictors of health : how representations of childhood are associated with well-being in adulthood(2012-12) Bichteler, Anne; Jacobvitz, DeborahIn this study I explored whether the way adults think about their early childhood is related to their perception of control, coping strategies, and health outcomes. The participants (N=78) in this study were administered the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) between 1 and 18 years ago, when they were new parents. The current online survey assessed perceived control (a composite of the Perceived Health Competency Scale and a general life control item), coping strategies (generated from a factor analysis of the Brief C.O.P.E. measure), anxiety (GAD-7), overweight (a composite of waist-to-hip ratio by body mass index), lifetime number of mental health diagnoses, and lifetime number of physical health diagnoses. As expected, non-problem-focused coping strategies and low perceived control were significantly associated with overweight and poor mental and physical health outcomes. This study added a developmental component to explain the roots of these maladaptive strategies: Dismissing speech on the AAI, characterized by idealizing childhood, minimizing childhood needs and/or distress, and emphasizing the normalcy and independence of one's upbringing strongly negatively predicted current perceived control and approach coping, relative to Secure speech. In fact, Dismissing speakers endorsed using fewer coping strategies over all. Given the pervasive influence of perceived control and active coping on myriad aging and health outcomes, the origins of these strengths is of particular interest. Dismissing speakers, although they endorse experiencing less anxiety, are clearly faring the worst. Attachment theory as a framework for explaining lifespan agency, anxiety, health behaviors, and outcomes is discussed.