Titel
The Influence of Attachment Styles and Personality Organization on Emotional Functioning After Childhood Trauma
Autor*in
Jürgen Fuchshuber
Center for Integrative Addiction Research (CIAR), GrünerKreis Society
Autor*in
Michaela Hiebler-Ragger
Center for Integrative Addiction Research (CIAR), GrünerKreis Society
Autor*in
Adelheid Kresse
Institute for Pathophysiology und Immunology, Medical University Graz
... show all
Abstract
Background: Current literature suggests a tenuous link among childhood trauma, personality organization, adult attachment, and emotional functioning in various psychiatric disorders. However, empirical research focusing on the interaction of these concepts is sparse. Therefore, this study intends to investigate the influence of personality organization and attachment dimensions on the relationship between childhood maltreatment and emotional functioning in adult life. To assess emotional functioning, we adopted the Affective Neuroscience model of primary emotions, comprising SEEKING, FEAR, ANGER, SADNESS, CARE, and PLAY. Methods: The total sample consisted of 616 nonclinical adults (Age: M = 30; SD = 9.53; 61.9% female). Path analysis was applied to investigate interactions among childhood trauma, personality organization, adult attachment, and primary emotion dispositions. Results: The findings suggest that childhood trauma significantly predicted deficits in personality organization and insecure attachment (all p < 0.001). Furthermore, a reduced level of personality organization was significantly associated with increased ANGER (p < 0.001), whereas adult attachment substantially predicted primary emotion dispositions in general. Moreover, the results indicate significant mediational effects of personality organization and attachment dimensions on the relationship between childhood trauma and primary emotions (p < 0.01). The final model was able to explain 48% of the variance in SADNESS, 38% in PLAY, 35% in FEAR, 28% in CARE, 14% in ANGER, and 13% in SEEKING. Discussion: The findings contribute to the understanding of the relationship between childhood maltreatment and impaired emotional functioning in adult life. Furthermore, the importance of personality organization and attachment dimensions for emotion regulation is underlined. Consequently, the treatment of patients with childhood trauma should focus on facilitating the development of more secure attachment patterns and increased personality functioning to improve overall emotional functioning.
Stichwort
adult attachmentpersonality organizationstructural equation modelingchildhood traumaprimary emotionsaffect regulationmediation
Objekt-Typ
Sprache
Englisch [eng]
Persistent identifier
https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1079180
Erschienen in
Titel
Frontiers in Psychiatry
Band
10
Verlag
Frontiers Media SA
Erscheinungsdatum
2019
Zugänglichkeit
Rechteangabe
© 2019 Fuchshuber, Hiebler-Ragger, Kresse, Kapfhammer and Unterrainer

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