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Emotion Regulation: Relationship to Attachment Style

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Emotion Regulation: Relationship to Attachment Style
Emotion Regulation: Relationship to Attachment Style

Abstract The present study aimed to examine the relationship between the four attachment styles developed by Bartholomew and Horowitz (1991) and emotion regulation, specifically the differences between the secure and insecure attachment styles and their ability to use positive or negative emotion regulation. Two hundred and ninety eight participants (216 female, 82 male) between the ages of 17 and 68 years answered an online questionnaire containing a scale derived from the Experiences in Close Relationship Scale (Wei, Russell, Mallinckrodt, & Vogel, 2007), Gratz and Roemer’s (2004) scale and Gross and Johns (2003) scale. Contrary to expectations there was no significant difference between the secure group and fearful group for impulse control difficulties. However there were significant findings for differences between secure attachment groups and insecure attachment groups for emotion regulation. It was concluded that attachment style plays a key role in emotion regulation, including whether those regulations are positive or negative. Further research should be conducted using a more diverse sample, with a focus on gender in order to identity the role of attachment style better.

Introduction
According to recent research early childhood interactions with caregivers have a profound influence over our capacities for emotion regulation later in life (Diamond, Hicks & Otter-Henderson, 2006). In fact these early interactions not only influence cognitive-behavioural aspects of emotion regulation, but also physiological processes such as sensitivity to stress and managing stress related metabolic demands (Diamond, Hicks & Otter-Henderson). Attachment styles can be described as “trait-like expectations concerning the responsiveness of attachment figures” (Diamond, Hicks & Otter-Henderson) and are formed by our experiences with
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