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We investigated the relationship between attachment styles and negative affect using Bartholomew and Horowitz's (1991) model of attachment. Attachment styles with a negative self view (i.e., preoccupied and fearful) were expected to be associated with more distress, especially the fearful style which involves negative views of both self and others. Measures of attachment, depression, depression proneness, and social anxiety were administered to 293 undergraduates. As predicted, participants with "negative self" attachment styles reported more symptoms of depression, proneness to depression, and social anxiety, but, contrary to prediction, those with a fearful style did not report more symptoms of depression and anxiety than those with a preoccupied style. Results suggest that the negative view of self significantly predicts depression and anxiety. Preoccupied and fearful attachment styles may best be described as predicting general negative affectivity. Implications for counseling are discussed.
Attachment theory and concepts were originally developed to address the relationship between infants and their primary caregivers (Bretherton, 1991). However, in the1980s attachment research shifted from a primary focus on the adult-infant relationship to the application of attachment concepts to adult-adult relationships. Early attachment experiences with caregivers are believed to form prototypes or internal working models that set the stage for patterns and expectations in later adult relationships (Berman & Sperling, 1994; Rothbard & Shaver, 1994). These internal working models incorporate a view of the self as loveable or not and a perspective of others regarding whether others are likely to meet an individual's needs or provide rejection. These internal working models function as templates or attachment styles, influencing people's behaviors as they interact with and develop adult relationships, thus providing continuity between child and adult relationship patterns (Rothbard & Shaver, 1994).
Hazan and Shaver (1987) proposed a three-category model of adult attachment by applying Ainsworth's three-part model of infant attachment to describe romantic relationships in adulthood. They demonstrated that secure, anxious-ambivalent, and avoidant styles of attachment were each present in adults who differed in their histories of attachment and their cognitive, internal working models. Securely attached adults were found to perceive love positively but realistically and to view themselves as easy to get to know and like. Individuals with an avoidant style of attachment were found to fear interpersonal closeness. People with an anxious-ambivalent...