Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Projects and researches
Published: 2022-06-10

Attachment Styles, Alexithymia and Interpersonal Relationships

University of Bucharest
attachment styles alexithymia interpersonal relationships

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the relationship between attachment styles and interpersonal relationships, more precisely the typologies specific to interpersonal problems, mediated by the variable alexithymia. This study involved 121 people aged between 18 and 62 years, M= 31.31 and SD= 11.66, 32 men and 89 women. The scales used were the Attachment Styles Questionnaire, The Alexithymia Toronto Scale, and The Inventory for Interpersonal Problems. The results showed that the secure attachment is positively associated only with the dominant style, and the avoidant attachment is positively associated only with the dominant, conflicting, and cold styles, while the anxious attachment is positively associated with all eight styles specific to interpersonal conflicts. Regarding the role of alexithymia, it mediates the relationship between the two variables, more precisely the secure attachment has no association with these variables, alexithymia mediates the relationship between avoidant attachment and conflicting, cold and naive types, as well as the relationship between anxious attachment and dominant, conflicting types, cold, insecure and naive. Following the results, we can say that the study data are consistent and can contribute to the development of the specialized area in the field.

References

  1. Bartholomew, K., and Horowitz, L. M. (1991). Attachment styles among young adults: a test of a four-category model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 226–244. doi: 10.1037/0022- 3514.61.2.226.
  2. Bagby, R. M., Taylor, G. J., & Parker, J. D. A. (1994). The twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia scale—II. Convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 38(1), 33–40. doi:10.1016/0022-3999(94)90006-x
  3. Besharat, M. A., & Shahidi, V. (2013). The Moderating Role of Attachment Styles on the Relationship between Alexithymia and Interpersonal Problems in an Iranian Population. International Journal of Psychological Studies, 5(4). doi:10.5539/ijps.v5n4p60.
  4. Deniz, M. E., Hamarta, E., & Arı, R. (2005). An invtigation of social skills and loneliness levels of university students with respect to their attachment styles in a sample of Turkish students. Social Behavior and Personality: An Internetional Jounal, 33 (1), 19 - 32. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2005.33.1.19
  5. D’Zurilla, T. J., & Chang, E. C. (1995). The relations between social problem solving and coping. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 19, 547-562. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02230513
  6. D’Zurilla, T. J., & Nezu, A. M. (1999). Problem solving therapy: A social competence approach to clinical intervention (2nd ed.). New York: Springer.
  7. Feeney, J. A., Noller, P., & Hanrahan, M. (1994). Assessing adult attachment. In M. B. Sperling & W. H. Berman (Eds.), Attachment in adults: Clinical and developmental perspectives (pp. 128–152). New York: Guilford Press.
  8. Ferraro, I. K., & Taylor, A. M. (2021). Adult attachment styles and emotional regulation: The role of interoceptive awareness and alexithymia. Personality and Individual Differences, 173, 110641. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2021.110641.
  9. Haggerty, G., Hilsenroth, M. J., & Vala-Stewart, R. (2009). Attachment and interpersonal distress: examining the relationship between attachment styles and interpersonal problems in a clinical population. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 16(1), 1–9. doi:10.1002/cpp.596
  10. Hazan, C., and Shaver, P. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 511–524. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.52.3.511.
  11. Hayden, M. C., Mullauer, P. K., & Andreas , S. (2017). A Systematic Review on the Association between Adult Attachment and Interpersonal Problems. Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy, 07(02). doi:10.4172/2161-0487.1000296
  12. Horowitz, L. M., Rosenberg, S. E., Baer, B. A., Ureño, G., & Villaseñor, V. S. (1988). Inventory of interpersonal problems: Psychometric properties and clinical applications. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56(6), 885– 892. doi:10.1037/0022-006x.56.6.885
  13. Horowitz, L.M., Alden, L.E., Wiggins, J.S., & Pincus, A.L. (2000), Inventory of Interpersonal Problems Manual, Odessa, FL: The Psychological Corporation.
  14. IBM Corp. Released 2016. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 24.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.
  15. Kobak, R. R., and Sceery, A. (1988). Attachment in late adolescence: working models, affect regulation, and representations of self and others. Child Development, 59, 135–146. doi: 10.2307/1130395.
  16. Krystal, H. (1988). Integration and self-healing: Affect, trauma, and alexithymia. Hillsdale,NJ: Analytic Press
  17. Levy, K. N., Ellison, W. D., Scott, L. N., & Bernecker, S. L. (2010). Attachment style. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 67(2), 193–203. doi:10.1002/jclp.20756
  18. Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2007). Attachment in adulthood: Structure, dynamics, and change. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
  19. Nemiah JC, Freyberger H, Sifneos PE: Alexithymia: a view of the psychosomatic process, in Modern Trends in Psychosomatic Medicine, vol. 3. Edited by Hill 0. London, Butterworths, 1976
  20. Orehek, E., Forest, A. L., & Barbaro, N. (2018). A People-as-Means Approach to Interpersonal Relationships. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 13(3), 373– 389. doi:10.1177/1745691617744522.
  21. Oskis, A., Clow, A., Hucklebridge, F., Bifulco, A., Jacobs, C., & Loveday, C. (2013). Understanding alexithymia in female adolescents: The role of attachment style. Personality and Individual Differences, 54(1), 97–102. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2012.08.023
  22. Sessa, I., D’Errico, F., Poggi, I., & Leone, G. (2020). Attachment Styles and Communication of Displeasing Truths. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01065
  23. Shaver, P. R., & Mikulincer, M. (2007). Adult attachment strategies and the regulation of emotion. In J. J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of emotion regulation (pp. 446–465). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
  24. Sifneos, P. E. (1967). Clinical observations on some patients suffering from a variety ofpsychosomatic diseases. Acta Medicina Psychosomatica, 7, 1–10. Sifneos PM: Short-term Psychotherapy and Emotional Crisis. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1972.
  25. Spitzer, C., Siebel-Jürges, U., Barnow, S., Grabe, H. J., & Freyberger, H. J. (2005). Alexithymia and Interpersonal Problems. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 74(4), 240–246. doi:10.1159/000085148
  26. Taylor, G. J., Bagby, R. M., & Parker, J. D. A. (1997). Disorders of affect regulation:Alexithymia in medical and psychiatric illness. Cambridge, England: CambridgeUniversity Press.
  27. Taylor, G. J., Bagby, R. M., & Luminet, O. (2000). Assessment of alexithymia: Self-reportand observer-rated measures. In R. Bar-On & J. D. A. Parker (Eds.), Handbook of emotional intelligence (pp. 301–319). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
  28. The jamovi project (2022). jamovi. (Version 2.9) [Computer Software]. Retrieved from https://www.jamovi.org.
  29. Vanheule, S., Desmet, M. Meganck, R., & Bogaerts, S. (2007). Alexithymia andinterpersonal problems. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 63, 109–117. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20324
  30. Vanheule, S., Vandenbergen, J., Verhaeghe, P., & Desmet, M. (2010). Interpersonal problems in alexithymia: A study in three primary care groups. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 83(4), 351–362. doi:10.1348/147608309x481829
  31. West, M., and Sheldon, A. E. R. (1988). Classification of pathological attachment patterns in adults. Journal of Personality Disorders, 2, 153–159. doi: 10.1521/pedi.1988.2. 2.153.
  32. Westen, D. (1998). The scientific legacy of Sigmund Freud: Toward a psychodynamically informed psychological science. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 333–371. doi:10.1037/0033- 2909.124.3.333
  33. World Health Organization. (1999). WHO Welzijnsindex. [retrieved 16-9-2011].

How to Cite

Alexandru, A. M. (2022). Attachment Styles, Alexithymia and Interpersonal Relationships. Studia Doctoralia, 13(1), 23–34. https://doi.org/10.47040/sdpsych.v13i1.141