Citation

Cloitre M, Stovall-McClough C, Zorbas P, Charuvastra A. J. Trauma. Stress 2008; 21(3): 282-289.

Affiliation

NYU Child Study Center, Department of Psychiatry, New York University Medical College, New York, NY.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/jts.20339

PMID

18553408

Abstract

Despite the consistent documentation of an association between compromised attachment and clinical disorders, there are few empirical studies exploring factors that may mediate this relationship. This study evaluated the potential roles of emotion regulation and social support expectations in linking adult attachment classification and psychiatric impairment in 109 women with a history of childhood abuse and a variety of diagnosed psychiatric disorders. Path analysis confirmed that insecure attachment was associated with psychiatric impairment through the pathways of poor emotion regulation capacities and diminished expectations of support. Results suggest the relevance of attachment theory in understanding the myriad psychiatric outcomes associated with childhood maltreatment and in particular, the focal roles that emotion regulation and interpersonal expectations may play.

Language: en