Interpersonal sensitivity as a mediator linking interpersonal stressors and social anxiety: Longitudinal mediation analysis using parallel process latent growth curve modeling

BACKGROUND

Little is known about the mechanism between interpersonal stressors and social anxiety in college students. This study was to investigate the mediating effect of interpersonal sensitivity between interpersonal stressors and social anxiety.

METHODS

The data was taken from a large-scale health-related cohort among Chinese college students. This study used data from the first four waves, including 4191 participants. The latent growth curve mediation model was used to examine the potential mediating role of interpersonal sensitivity in the relationship between interpersonal stressors and social anxiety over time.

RESULTS

Both levels and changes in interpersonal stressors were positively associated with subsequent levels and changes in social anxiety. Mediation analysis showed that interpersonal sensitivity mediated the relationship between interpersonal stressors and social anxiety.

LIMITATION

All variables were collected based on self-report.

CONCLUSIONS

Interpersonal stressor is a significant risk factor for social anxiety, and this association appears to be mediated by interpersonal sensitivity. It is necessary to evaluate and intervene against interpersonal sensitivity related to interpersonal stressors for the prevention of social anxiety.

The Moderating Role of Insecure Attachments on the Relationship between Controlling Behaviors and Violence Perpetration in Intimate Relationships

This study sought to examine the association between male-to-female physical, psychological, and sexual violence and controlling behaviors of male partners. Further, the moderating effect of insecure attachment style on this association was examined in the context of South Korea. Existing national data collected from a representative Korean sample of 2,000 unmarried men was utilized. Findings indicated controlling behaviors among men were positively and negatively associated with psychological and physical violence, respectively, and no association was observed with sexual violence against female partners. Anxious attachment moderated the relationship between control over partner and psychological abuse. The avoidant attachment was identified as a quasi and pure moderator for the associations between control over the partner and physical and sexual violence, respectively.

Social Abuse in Intimate Partner Relationships: A Hybrid Concept Analysis

Belongingness is a basic human need. The violation of this need has been described in numerous studies on intimate partner violence (IPV). However, it has not been conceptually defined. Therefore, this study aimed to develop and analyze the concept of social abuse in intimate partner relationships. A hybrid model of concept analysis was used for this study consisting of three phases: theoretical, fieldwork, and analytic. In the theoretical phase, a systematic literature review was performed to obtain a working definition of social abuse. In total, 20 articles that met the inclusion criteria were included in the analysis. The findings from the theoretical phase were refined and confirmed by qualitative data collected from the fieldwork phase. In the analytical phase, four attributes of social abuse emerged: cutting off the victim's social relations, limiting the victim's social engagement, interfering with the victim's social relations, and closely watching the victim's social interactions. Possessiveness, escalating suspicion, allegations of infidelity, and fear that the victim will leave were identified as antecedents of social abuse in perpetrators. Additionally, the experience of social abuse had negative consequences on victims' social relationships, mental health, and help-seeking behaviors. This study extends the theoretical framework of IPV and implies a strong need to educate victims and their social acquaintances on social abuse.

Risk Factors of Female-Perpetrated Intimate Partner Violence among Hispanic Young Adults: Attachment Style, Emotional Dysregulation, and Negative Childhood Experiences

This paper examined whether risk factors commonly associated with intimate partner violence (IPV) are associated with female-perpetrated physical IPV and female physical IPV victimization among young Hispanic women. It also examined how emotion dysregulation, impulsivity, and attachment style exacerbated these relationships. Furthermore, it investigates how these associations differ by the type of self-reported physical violence against their romantic partner. Based on the participants' self-reported physical violence, they were classified into one of four groups: nonviolent, victim-only, perpetrator-only, and bidirectionally violent. Bidirectional violence was by far the most common form of violence reported. Utilizing self-report data from 360 young Hispanic women, we used binary logistic regression to examine potential predictors of physical IPV perpetration and victimization for each group. Results demonstrated that women in the bidirectionally violent group reported the highest levels of perpetration and victimization. Parental violence victimization, witnessing interparental violence, insecure attachment styles, and emotional dysregulation predicted physical IPV perpetration and victimization. These findings emphasize the need for effective interventions that include both members of the dyad and acknowledge the impact of women's attachment style, emotion dysregulation, and adverse childhood experiences on female-perpetrated IPV and female IPV victimization.

Aggression and anxiety influence the relationship between interpersonal sensitivity and military morale among new recruits

We explored the internal mechanism of military morale by examining the relationships of interpersonal sensitivity, aggression, anxiety, and military morale among newly recruited army soldiers. Participants (N = 718) completed a self-report survey measuring the focal variables. The results indicate that military morale was negatively related to interpersonal sensitivity and aggression. Further, aggression played a mediating role in the relationship between interpersonal sensitivity and military morale, and the mediating effect of aggression was, in turn, moderated by anxiety. Our study enriches the interpersonal model of military morale and has implications for interventions to improve military morale, such as training in reduction of interpersonal sensitivity or counseling for high interpersonal sensitivity to improve military morale, and avoiding selecting individuals with high levels of interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety, and aggression when recruiting soldiers.

Psychological Intimate Partner Violence, Insecure Attachment, and Parental Psychological Control from Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood

We examine if psychological intimate partner violence (pIPV) is predicted by parental psychological control (PPC) via insecure attachment. Our results analyzing longitudinal data from the Child Development Project show that PPC perceived at age 16 predicts insecure attachment at age 18, which then predicts pIPV at age 24. Moreover, the paths with attachment anxiety are consistently significant while ones with attachment avoidance are not. Further, all the paths are significant regardless of the gender of the adolescents and parents, which indicates that PPC is detrimental regardless of the gender of the adolescents or parents. Lastly, PPC perceived at age 16 does not directly predict pIPV at age 24, which suggests that social learning theory of aggression (Bandura, 1978) may not explain the association from PPC to pIPV. Our results suggest that research and practice would benefit by considering PPC as an antecedent of pIPV via insecure attachment from adolescence to emerging adulthood.

Investigating Attachment Insecurity and Somatosensory Amplification, and the Mediating Role of Interpersonal Problems

Abstract. Background: Somatosensory amplification involves perceptual sensitivity to and cognitive-affective interpretation of bodily sensations and external stimuli, contributing to heightened experiences of somatic symptoms. However, little is known about somatosensory amplification in relation to vulnerabilities such as attachment insecurity. Aims: The present study investigated the link between attachment insecurity and somatosensory amplification, including the mediating role of dysfunctional interpersonal behaviors. Method: A sample of 245 adult community members completed the Somatosensory Amplification Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, and abbreviated versions of the Experiences in Close Relationships scale and Inventory of Interpersonal Problems. Correlational and regression analyses were used to examine relations among study variables, including a hypothesized parallel mediation model. Results: Somatosensory amplification was significantly associated with attachment anxiety, but not attachment avoidance. Regression analyses, controlling for general anxiety symptoms and gender, found that interpersonal sensitivity (but not aggression or ambivalence) mediated the link between attachment anxiety and somatosensory amplification. Limitations: Study limitations include the use of cross-sectional data and a non-clinical sample. Conclusion: The findings indicate that somatosensory amplification may be related to individuals’ attachment anxiety, through the mediating effect of interpersonal sensitivity problems.

Analysis of the mediating effect of mentalization on the relationship between attachment styles and emotion dysregulation

The current study aims to explore the relationship between attachment styles, mentalization and emotion dysregulation. Moreover, the mediation effect of mentalization in the relationship between attachment and emotion dysregulation is analyzed. A sample composed of 607 participants taken from the Spanish general population completed the measures in a cross-sectional designed study. The results show that secure attachment is negatively related to emotion dysregulation dimensions, whereas insecure attachment styles show a positive correlation. Furthermore, the mentalization variables are in general significantly related to emotion dysregulation. The mediation model shows a large mediational effect size (f²  = 2.64). The results suggest that mentalization significantly mediates the relationship between emotion dysregulation and preoccupation, self-sufficiency, and childhood trauma. These results have important implications, as they indicate that clinical interventions on mentalization should reduce emotion dysregulation even in those people with a predominant insecure attachment style.

The Mediating Role of Romantic Attachment in the Relationship Between Attachment to Parents and Aggression

BACKGROUND

A secure attachment style could promote more intimacy in romantic relationships, while an insecure attachment style could be correlated with less positive romantic relationships in adulthood. Numerous studies have noted that a secure attachment to parents was correlated with lower levels of aggression, whereas insecure attachments were associated with higher levels of aggression. We aimed to investigate the role of the attachment system as a mediator of the expression of aggressiveness during adolescence. Specifically, we considered that the attachment to parents and peers could influence one's attachment to a romantic partner.

METHODS

We empirically tested whether there were relationships of parent and peer attachment on aggressiveness mediated by romantic attachment style. Participants of the study included 411 students.

RESULTS

Results indicated that for males an insecure father-child attachment style seems to be associated with higher levels of anxiety and avoidance in romantic attachments and then with aggressiveness. For females, an insecure mother-child attachment style seems to be associated with higher levels of aggressiveness.

CONCLUSION

The attachment to parents and to peers plays a key role in defining romantic attachment according to gender, and these dimensions in turn tend to affect the levels of aggressiveness.

School Bullying and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms: The Role of Parental Bonding

Much research on school bullying and victimization have outlined several individual, family, and school parameters that function as risk factors for developing further psychosocial and psychopathological problems. Bullying and victimization are interrelated with symptoms of psychological trauma, as well as emotional/ behavioural reactions, which can destabilize psychosocial and scholastic pathways for children and adolescents. The current study explored the various dimensions of psychological trauma (depressive symptoms, somatization, dissociation, avoidance behaviours) associated with school bullying/victimization in relation to parental bonding among 433 students (8–16 years old) from representative large cities in Greece. The following scales were employed: (a) Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire, (b) Child Report of Post-traumatic Symptoms (CROPS), and (c) Parental Bonding Inventory instrument (PBI). Pathways analysis extracted a series of models which showed that maternal and paternal overprotection (anxious-controlling/aggressive) had positive association with post-traumatic stress symptoms. Specifically, the quality of parental bonding was related with children's bullying/victimization experiences and post-traumatic symptomology. Conversely, results indicated that maternal and paternal care can reduce the manifestation of post-traumatic stress symptoms. Implications for interventions are discussed.

Attachment, Social Value Orientation, Sensation Seeking, and Bullying in Early Adolescence

In this study, bullying is examined in light of the "prosocial security hypothesis"- i.e., the hypothesis that insecure attachment, with temperamental dispositions such as sensation seeking, may foster individualistic, competitive value orientations and problem behaviors. A group of 375 Italian students (53% female; Mean age = 12.58, SD = 1.08) completed anonymous questionnaires regarding attachment security, social values, sensation seeking, and bullying behaviors. Path analysis showed that attachment to mother was negatively associated with bullying of others, both directly and through the mediating role of conservative socially oriented values, while attachment to father was directly associated with victimization. Sensation seeking predicted bullying of others and victimization both directly and through the mediating role of conservative socially oriented values. Adolescents' gender affected how attachment moderated the relationship between sensation seeking and problem behavior.

Adult Attachment Dimensions and College Student Distress

The present investigation examined dispositional hope as a psychological strength that mediates the associations between adult attachment dimensions and seven commonly assessed college student psychological symptoms, as measured by the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms–62 (CCAPS-62): depression, eating concerns, substance use, generalized anxiety, hostility, social anxiety, and academic distress. Structural equation modeling of data obtained from students at a large Midwestern university ( N = 2,644) revealed that (a) adult attachment dimensions were positively associated with CCAPS-62 domains and negatively associated with hope, (b) hope was negatively associated with all seven CCAPS-62 domains with the exception of substance use, and (c) hope mediated the associations between attachment dimensions and all seven CCAPS-62 psychological symptoms, with the exception of substance use. Findings suggest that addressing adult attachment-driven automatic views of self and others may have important implications for hopeful thinking as well as for counseling intervention and prevention of college student psychological distress.

Roles of fatalism and parental support in the relationship between bullying victimization and bystander behaviors

This article examines how past bullied victims engage two types of bystander behaviors (defender and outsider) when they witness bullying situations.We also investigate if fatalism mediates the relationship between past victimization and two bystander behaviors. Finally, we test if parental support moderates the relationship between fatalism and two bystander behaviors. Based on 3,441 students from 20 middle schools in Taiwan, results support the mediation hypotheses that the relationships of past victimization with defender and outsider behaviors are mediated through fatalism. Furthermore, the results support the moderation hypotheses that parental support is positively associated with defender behavior even when the level of fatalism is high. Future school bullying prevention research and practice may benefit from understanding how to reduce fatalistic belief and strengthen parental support.

Cyber aggression within adolescents' romantic relationships: linkages to parental and partner attachment

Extensive research has examined face-to-face aggression within adolescents' romantic relationships, but little attention has been given to the role of electronic technologies in adolescents' perpetuation of these behaviors. Thus, this study examined the relationship of anxious and avoidant partner attachments to partner-directed cyber aggression, assessed 1 year later among 600 adolescents (54% female). After accounting for gender and previous behaviors, anxious partner attachment was related to later partner-directed cyber aggression. In addition, insecure parental attachment from adolescents' mothers was related positively to insecure partner attachment and had an indirect effect on their partner-directed cyber aggression through the mediation of anxious partner attachment. This study provides insight into the impact of electronic technologies on adolescents' romantic relationships.