Attachment orientations and family functioning: The mediating role of emotion regulation.

Attachment insecurity has been found to be associated with poor family functioning. The mechanisms underlying this link, however, are less explored. This study examines the potential mediating role of emotion regulation in the association between attachment orientations and family functioning. Self-report scales measuring attachment, family functioning, and emotion regulation were administered to 132 adults (58% women; 57.63 years). Results showed that both attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were associated with poor family functioning. Furthermore, emotion suppression, but not positive reappraisal, was found to partially mediate the association between attachment insecurity (both anxiety and avoidance) and perceived family functioning. Findings suggest that emotion regulation seems to play a role in the impact that attachment orientations may have on family functioning.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCTinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Emotion goals, emotion regulation, and mental health: A mediational hypothesis

Objective Until recently, studies have focused their attention on the different ways individuals regulate their emotions. What remains to be known are the reasons underlying individuals’ emotion regulation choices and their consequences. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to provide preliminary evidence on individual differences in how emotion goals, emotion regulation strategy choice, and individuals’ mental health are associated. Method A sample of 400 Portuguese adults from the community was used. Results Pro-hedonic goals were associated with the use of less suppression, more emotion communication, and more positive reappraisal, which in turn were associated with better mental health. Contra-hedonic goals were associated with the use of more suppression and less positive reappraisal, which in turn were associated with worse mental health. Finally, impression management goals were associated with the use of more suppression and more rumination, and less emotion communication, which in turn were associated with worse mental health. Conclusions Overall, our findings seem to suggest that emotion goals are linked to individuals’ mental health via emotion regulation strategies. KEY POINTS What is already known about this topic: (1) Emotion regulation has important implications for the individuals’ psychological well-being. (2) Emotion goals are likely to influence emotion regulation strategy choice. (3) Emotion goals seem to influence individual’s psychological well-being. What this topic adds: (1) Pro-hedonic goals were associated with the use of less suppression, more emotion communication, and more positive reappraisal which in turn were associated with better mental health. (2) Contra-hedonic goals were linked to depression and anxiety via the use of more suppression and less positive reappraisal. (3) Impression management goals were linked to depression, anxiety, and stress via the use of more suppression, more rumination, and less emotion communication.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCTinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Parentalidade, auto-estima e auto-eficácia: a situação de doença crónica de um filho

Tese de Doutoramento, Psicologia na especialidade de Psicologia da Saúde, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Universidade do Algarve, 2010Procurando manter uma perspectiva humanista sobre os constructos em estudo, a presente investigação pretende analisar em que medida o facto de existir na família, uma criança com diabetes, afecta a auto-estima e a auto-eficácia parental dos pais e se essa influência se associa ao nível de apoio activo na doença. Para tal, reuniu-se uma amostra de 244 mães e pais, de crianças entre os 4 e os 14 anos, divididos em dois grupos (pais de crianças diabéticas e pais de crianças sem doença crónica), que foram comparados relativamente à auto-estima e à auto-eficácia parental. Os pais com filhos diabéticos responderam ainda à medida de apoio activo na doença. Metodologicamente, os objectivos implicaram o desenvolvimento e validação de uma Escala de Auto-Eficácia Parental, numa amostra de 312 progenitores de ambos os sexos cujos resultados, em termos de validade factorial e consistência interna garantem a adequação do instrumento. Procedeu-se também à adaptação para a língua portuguesa da Escala de Apoio Parental Activo na Doença (versão original de Wysocki & Gavin, 2004), numa amostra de 120 pais de filhos diabéticos. A Análise de Componentes Principais, que confirma a estrutura da escala original em duas dimensões, a consistência interna da escala e o coeficiente de Spearman-Brown demonstram as propriedades psicométricas desta versão. A existência de respostas dos dois membros do casal justificou a introdução da metodologia multinível, permitindo uma análise diádica que integra a não-independência dos dados relacionais. Os resultados demonstram que os pais de crianças diabéticas possuem uma autoeficácia parental significativamente superior aos pais de crianças sem doença, embora ao nível da auto-estima as diferenças sejam quase inexistentes. Auto-eficácia parental e autoestima associam-se determinantemente, funcionando a diabetes da criança como um agente intermediário dos processos subjectivos parentais. Enquanto a auto-eficácia parental se relaciona, sobretudo, com a avaliação do contributo parental na gestão da doença para o funcionamento familiar, a auto-estima associa-se ao envolvimento nas tarefas da diabetes, na medida em que este envolvimento se liga a uma diminuição da percepção negativa dos pais sobre si próprios. A investigação evidenciou também a preponderância de outras variáveis em análise, especificamente o nível educativo parental, o número de filhos e o tempo de diagnóstico da diabetes. Os resultados das díades, não totalmente consonantes com os individuais, confirmam a relevância da adopção de metodologias específicas no estudo de pessoas afectivamente ligadas

Attachment orientations, emotion goals, and emotion regulation.

ABSTRACT: While research has linked attachment to emotion regulation (ER), little is known about associations between attachment and what individuals want to feel (i.e., emotion goals), something that has been found to influence ER strategy choice. In this study, we examined the links between attachment, emotion goals, and emotion regulation. A total of 605 participants from the community were included. They filled out self-report scales on attachment, emotion goals, and ER strategies. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Direct effects showed a link between attachment avoidance and fewer pro-hedonic goals, more suppression and fewer emotion communication, and between attachment anxiety and fewer pro-hedonic goals, more pro-social, performance, and impression management goals, and more suppression and rumination. Indirect effects showed that attachment avoidance was associated with less emotion communication and positive reappraisal and more suppression through fewer pro-hedonic goals. Attachment anxiety was associated with more rumination and more suppression through fewer impression management goals; attachment anxiety was also associated with more suppression through fewer pro-hedonic goals and more performance goals. These findings highlight the role of attachment as an important antecedent of emotion goals.Fundação para a Ciencia e Tecnologia FCTinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio