Attachment orientations and emotion regulation: new insights from the study of interpersonal emotion regulation strategies

A crucial point for the understanding of the link between attachment and emotion regulation concerns the individual tendency in turning to others to alleviate distress. Most previous studies in this field have considered almost exclusively intra-personal forms of emotion regulation, neglecting the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Irene Messina, Vincenzo Calvo, Alessandro Grecucci
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: PAGEPress Publications 2024-01-01
Series:Research in Psychotherapy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.researchinpsychotherapy.org/index.php/rpsy/article/view/703
Description
Summary:A crucial point for the understanding of the link between attachment and emotion regulation concerns the individual tendency in turning to others to alleviate distress. Most previous studies in this field have considered almost exclusively intra-personal forms of emotion regulation, neglecting the role of social interaction in emotion regulation processes. In the present study, instead, we focused on interpersonal emotion regulation. 630 adults were assessed for their attachment orientations, general difficulties in emotion regulation, and habitual intra-personal and interpersonal emotion regulation strategies. Results showed that the imbalance between the hyper-activation and deactivation of the attachment system, which characterize unsecure attachment, reflects a correspondent imbalance in the use of emotion regulation strategies, with an exaggerated dependence on other associated with attachment anxiety and pseudo-autonomy associated to attachment avoidance.
ISSN:2499-7552
2239-8031