Attachment anxiety and avoidance predict postnatal partner support through impaired affective communication

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to investigate perceived difficulties in affective communication as a key mechanism linking attachment anxiety and avoidance during pregnancy to the quality of postpartum support received by partners. Background: During the postpartum period, partner support has the potential to promote family well-being by mitigating stress related to changes experienced during this transition. Attachment security is one of the most robust predictors of intimate relationship processes and impacts partner communication and support dynamics. Method: Heterosexual couples (N = 159) completed surveys and semi-structured interviews to obtain measures of attachment security, perceived difficulties in affective communication, and quality of partner support quality during pregnancy. At 6 months postpartum, partners completed interviews to assess the quality of partner support received since childbirth. Results: Greater attachment anxiety and avoidance predicted greater impairments in affective communication for men and women. Paternal difficulties with affective communication predicted the quality of support received by both mothers and fathers during the 6 months following childbirth controlling for prenatal support. The effects of attachment anxiety and avoidance on postpartum support were mediated by paternal perceptions of poor affective communication. Conclusion: Findings demonstrate the utility of attachment theory for understanding adaptive and maladaptive prenatal couple dynamics and examining both parents in research on heterosexual couples navigating the pregnancy-postpartum transition. Results identify deficits in prenatal affective communication as a key factor explaining the link between attachment insecurity and postpartum partner support, warranting closer attention in interventions

An Integrated Conceptual Framework Linking Attachment Insecurity to Increased Risk for Both Enacting and Experiencing Objectification

Sexual objectification (i.e., reducing a person to their appearance, body, or sex appeal and functions) is a significant risk factor for negative health outcomes. In the present investigation, we examined multiple manifestations of objectification (i.e., objectification of others, objectification of self, and objectification by others) in an interpersonal context. We merged objectification theory with attachment theory, one of the most prominent theories of close relationships, and propose that sexual objectification can shed light on attachment processes (and vice versa). To bolster this conceptual overlap, we tested this novel, integrated framework across two independent samples of women and men including (a) a sample of 813 undergraduate students—both partnered and single—who completed self-report questionnaires of attachment security and multiple forms of objectification and (b) a sample of 159 committed couples navigating pregnancy who were observed during naturalistic interactions to assess attachment security and completed self-report questionnaires of attachment security and objectification (including partner objectification). Results from both studies demonstrate the utility of our proposed conceptual framework linking attachment insecurity to increased risk for both enacting and experiencing objectification. The most compelling evidence emerged for (a) a link between attachment anxiety and self-objectification with moderate effect sizes across both samples, and (b) an association between a less secure base within the couple relationship during pregnancy and feeling more objectified by one’s partner as well as less humanized (i.e., feeling that your partner values you more for your physical attributes and less for your non-physical attributes)

The Dark Side of Helping Behaviors: Partner Support Increases Daily Alcohol Use in Outpatients with a History of Alcohol Dependence

The primary goal of the present study was to systematically investigate the role of intimate partner support in alcohol use and to examine whether partner support serves a maladaptive function among individuals with a history of alcohol dependence. This goal was pursued in a sample of low-income outpatients because of increased risk for chronic stress and alcohol use disorders among this population. We implemented a comprehensive, multimethod assessment of partner support and ecological momentary assessments of alcohol use over 14 consecutive days. Results demonstrate the potential “dark side” of helping behaviors that has been proposed in recent literature. Specifically, in a sample of low-income outpatients, we found that receiving more frequent and higher quality support from one’s partner put individuals meeting criteria for alcohol dependence at greater risk for consuming alcohol. Findings converge with research suggesting that helping behaviors might function to enable maladaptive coping mechanisms in the context of alcohol use disorders

Family Pathways Contributing to Destructive Interparental Conflict From Infancy to Preschool Age: Investigating the Role of Child Temperament

Research clearly demonstrates that more conflictual interparental relationship dynamics create a family context contributing to child emotional insecurity and psychopathology. However, significantly less research has examined familial factors that contribute to maladaptive conflict patterns between parents. Scholars have alluded to the disruptive impacts of parenting a child with certain temperamental characteristics (e.g., a tendency toward frequent and intense displays of negative emotion). Yet, there is a lack of empirical research examining if and how child temperament contributes to later interparental conflict. The overarching goal of the present study was to test an integrated conceptual model examining the impact of infant negative emotionality on interparental conflict, occurring when the child is preschool-age, through coparenting and parent-child relationship dynamics. Importantly, parental protective factors (i.e., parental self-compassion and interparental secure base) were also examined as regulatory resources that buffer this maladaptive cascade. Study aims were pursued in an established sample of 150 families (mother, father, and child) who completed observational paradigms, semi-structured interviews, and self-report questionnaires during pregnancy and when the target child turned 1, 2, and 3.5 years of age. Findings suggest that higher infant negative emotionality predicts worse interparental conflict management when children are preschool age by undermining coparenting quality, reported by mothers, during toddlerhood, though only under certain conditions. Specifically, this cascade was only present when paternal self-compassion and interparental secure base, measured during pregnancy, were relatively low. When these prenatal resources were relatively high, this appeared to create a context for family flourishing such that greater infant negative emotionality actually promoted higher quality coparenting and, subsequently, better interparental conflict management. Interestingly, parent-child relationship dynamics did not emerge as a meaningful link between infant negative emotionality and interparental conflict under any conditions. These findings point to the importance of intervention and prevention efforts for parents, specifically targeting parental self-compassion and interparental secure base during pregnancy, which helps parents engage in healthier family dynamics while parenting a child who is more reactive and prone to expressing negative emotions

The Dark Side of Helping Behaviors: Partner Support Increases Daily Alcohol Use in Outpatients with a History of Alcohol Dependence

The primary goal of the present study was to systematically investigate the role of intimate partner support in alcohol use and to examine whether partner support serves a maladaptive function among individuals with a history of alcohol dependence. This goal was pursued in a sample of low-income outpatients because of increased risk for chronic stress and alcohol use disorders among this population. We implemented a comprehensive, multimethod assessment of partner support and ecological momentary assessments of alcohol use over 14 consecutive days. Results demonstrate the potential “dark side” of helping behaviors that has been proposed in recent literature. Specifically, in a sample of low-income outpatients, we found that receiving more frequent and higher quality support from one’s partner put individuals meeting criteria for alcohol dependence at greater risk for consuming alcohol. Findings converge with research suggesting that helping behaviors might function to enable maladaptive coping mechanisms in the context of alcohol use disorders

Unconventional medicine in the United States. Prevalence, costs, and patterns of use

ABSTRACT Background Many people use unconventional therapies for health problems, but the extent of this use and the costs ar

Learning from adversity: What the COVID-19 pandemic can teach us about family resiliency

The present study aimed to characterize the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on families with preschool age children and to identify pre-pandemic factors that explained unique family experiences. We leveraged an ongoing longitudinal study of relatively well-resourced community families who had reported on family functioning prior to the pandemic and completed surveys 6 months after pandemic onset. Both parents of dual parenting households endorsed significant hardships as a direct result of the pandemic (e.g., disrupted family routines, challenges at work); however, families also reported aspects of flourishing (i.e., experiencing positive outcomes in response to adversity) such as spending more time together as a family. Families were prone to greater hardships and fewer opportunities for growth to the extent that parents were lower in psychological resources (i.e., greater stress and internalizing symptoms, poor well-being) and were not on the same page as a couple (i.e., interparental discord, low quality coparenting) prior to pandemic onset. Finally, greater pandemic hardships predicted poorer parental mental health, greater family dysfunction, and elevated child psychopathology, controlling for pre-pandemic levels. Parents who reported more family flourishing from the pandemic had a stronger interparental relationship. Results are intended to inform theories of family stress and family interventions that can be tailored to promote resiliency (i.e., adaptation to challenging life events) and prevent dysfunction when families face rapid change and adjustment and high degrees of uncertainty and stress

Glucose Homeostasis in Mice Is Transglutaminase 2 Independent

Transglutaminase type 2 (TG2) has been reported to be a candidate gene for maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY) because three different mutations that impair TG2 transamidase activity have been found in 3 families with MODY. TG2 null (TG2(-/-)) mice have been reported to be glucose intolerant and have impaired glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS). Here we rigorously evaluated the role of TG2 in glucose metabolism using independently generated murine models of genetic TG2 disruption, which show no compensatory enhanced expression of other TGs in pancreatic islets or other tissues. First, we subjected chow- or fat-fed congenic SV129 or C57BL/6 wild type (WT) and TG2(-/-) littermates, to oral glucose gavage. Blood glucose and serum insulin levels were similar for both genotypes. Pancreatic islets isolated from these animals and analysed in vitro for GSIS and cholinergic potentiation of GSIS, showed no significant difference between genotypes. Results from intraperitoneal glucose tolerance tests (GTTs) and insulin tolerance tests (ITTs) were similar for both genotypes. Second, we directly investigated the role of TG2 transamidase activity in insulin secretion using a coisogenic model that expresses a mutant form of TG2 (TG2(R579A)), which is constitutively active for transamidase activity. Intraperitoneal GTTs and ITTs revealed no significant differences between WT and TG2(R579A/R579A) mice. Given that neither deletion nor constitutive activation of TG2 transamidase activity altered basal responses, or responses to a glucose or insulin challenge, our data indicate that glucose homeostasis in mice is TG2 independent, and question a link between TG2 and diabetes