Key Points
Rationale
However, little research has examined explanatory mechanisms for these associations, especially mechanisms that can be targeted in therapy. One promising mechanism is trait mindfulness, defined as present-focused, nonjudgmental awareness.
Trait mindfulness has been found to mediate associations of attachment insecurity with anxiety and other outcomes (Macaulay et al., 2015; Martín et al., 2017). It may disrupt negative appraisals and ineffective regulation tied to insecure attachment.
Critically, though, no studies have tested mindfulness as a mediator within romantic couples. Romantic partners’ attachment patterns likely influence each other’s emotion regulation abilities like mindfulness.
Thus, analyzing actor and partner effects in couples using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model (APIMeM) allows a nuanced understanding of how mindfulness links attachment patterns to anxiety interpersonally (Ledermann et al., 2011).
Method
219 heterosexual couples completed validated self-report measures of:
Sample
Statistical Analysis
Results
Insight
This study contributes to research onadult attachment, mindfulness, and anxiety in couples. While links between attachment insecurity and anxiety are well-established (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2012), research seldom considers romantic partners’ mutual influence despite romantic partners being each other’s primary attachment figures.
Using the APIMeM, this study showed that attachment patterns not only related to one’s ownemotion regulationand anxiety, but also influenced the partner’s mindfulness and anxiety.
Finding mindfulness as a mechanism within and between partners strongly indicates that mindfulness skills could make couples more resilient to the effects of attachment insecurities.
Overall, the study highlights exciting possibilities for incorporating mindfulness into therapy with couples to address anxiety rooted in relational patterns.
Strengths
Limitations
Implications
This study carries meaningful clinical and research implications. For clinicians delivering psychotherapy to couples, directly targeting each partner’s attachment insecurities may be difficult as adult attachment orientation is largely stable (Fraley, 2002).
However, incorporating mindfulness skills training to alter associated emotion regulation deficits seems promising. Trait mindfulness was an explanatory mechanism linking partners’ attachment patterns to heightened anxiety.
Mindfulness-focused emotional regulation skillsmay attenuate anxiety rooted in couple dynamics like reassurance-seeking or withdrawal tied to attachment anxiety and avoidance respectively.
Clinicians can also educate couples about these links between their attachment patterns, mindfulness, and anxiety. Doing so motivates couples to engage more actively in developing shared mindfulness practices that can shore up their collective emotion regulation abilities.
For researchers, this study prompts key next directions like experimental and longitudinal designs to clarify directionality among variables.
Researchers can also identify other explanatory mechanisms linking couples’ attachment patterns to anxiety, including couple communication patterns and empathy.
Crucially, similar studies need to be conducted with samples of same-sex couples and diverse relationship constellations to determine the equivalence of observed effects across groups.
References
Brennan, K. A., Clark, C. L., & Shaver, P. R. (1998). Self-report measurement of adult attachment: An integrative overview. In J. A. Simpson & W. S. Rholes (Eds.),Attachment theory and close relationships(pp. 46–76). Guilford Press.
Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2003). The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(4), 822–848.https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.4.822
Fraley, R. C. (2002). Attachment stability from infancy to adulthood: Meta-analysis and dynamic modeling of developmental mechanisms.Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6(2), 123-151.https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0602_03
Ledermann, T., Macho, S., & Kenny, D. A. (2011). Assessing mediation in dyadic data using the actor-partner interdependence model.Structural Equation Modeling, 18(4), 595-612.https://doi.org/10.1080/10705511.2011.607099
Macaulay, C. B., Watt, M. C., MacLean, K., & Weaver, A. (2015). Mindfulness mediates associations between attachment and anxiety sensitivity.Mindfulness, 6(6), 1263-1270.https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-015-0390-y
Marteau, T. M., & Bekker, H. (1992). The development of a six-item short-form of the state scale of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 31(3), 301-306.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8260.1992.tb00997.x
Martín, D., Gillath, O., Deboeck, P., Lang, K., & Kerr, B. (2017). Changes in attachment security and mindfulness as predictors of changes in depression and general anxiety.Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 36(9), 769–797.https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2017.36.9.769
Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2012). An attachment perspective on psychopathology.World Psychiatry, 11(1), 11-15.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wpsyc.2012.01.003
Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2016).Attachment in adulthood: Structure, dynamics, and change(2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
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Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education
Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.
Saul McLeod, PhD
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester
Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
