Changes in Attachment Orientation Over a 59-year Period: Determinants of Change and Implications for Health.

More than forty years have passed since John Bowlby (1969/1982) proposed that the attachment system is influential “from the cradle to the grave” (p. 208). During those years, researchers have documented many important links between individual differences in attachment and behavior, emotion, and cognition in close relationships. Yet the majority of this work has focused on early childhood and young adulthood. Relatively little attention has been paid to attachment processes from a lifespan perspective—one that includes middle and older adulthood. Methodological limitations also prevent researchers from measuring how attachment changes over long intervals of time. In this dissertation, I developed a measure of attachment orientation using existing measures of personality and then used this method to examine changes in attachment orientation from age 3 to 62 using data from the Block and Block Longitudinal Study, the Intergenerational Studies, and the Radcliffe College Class of 1964 Sample. I also tested whether relationship status and satisfaction moderated changes in attachment orientation among adults. Finally, I examined how individual differences in change were related to subjective health across the lifespan. My findings demonstrate that attachment anxiety increased during childhood and adolescence before decreasing in adulthood. Attachment avoidance increased slightly until middle age before declining in older adulthood. Being in a relationship and having higher marital satisfaction predicted lower levels of anxiety and avoidance across adulthood, particularly in old age. Finally, anxiety was consistently associated with poorer health across adulthood. Taken together, these findings provide much-needed insight into how attachment orientations change over long stretches of time, as well as information about what predicts these changes and the implications of these changes. My dissertation also serves as an illustrative example of how observer-reports of personality can be used to create measures of a construct that was not previously included in data collection. Considerations for measuring longitudinal changes in attachment with observer-based measures of personality are discussed, along with future directions and implications for studying changes in relationships over time.PHDPsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111606/1/chopik_1.pd

Multiple Loves: The Effects of Attachment with Multiple Concurrent Romantic Partners on Relational Functioning

In the present study, we sought to understand whether people in polyamorous relationships have similar attachment orientations with each of their partners. Further, we examined the extent to which the attachment relationship with a given partner affects relationship quality both within that relationship and across concurrent romantic relationships. We recruited a community sample of 357 people engaged in polyamory with at least two concurrent romantic partners. People engaged in polyamory exhibited secure attachment with both of their partners (low in avoidance and anxiety); specifically, these scores were lower than established norms. In terms of within-relationship effects, avoidance and anxiety with a specific partner were linked with lower levels of relationship functioning (relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, satisfaction with emotional and sexual agreements, and commitment) for that specific relationship. However, there was no association between avoidance and anxiety with one specific partner and the relationship functioning in a different, concurrent romantic relationship (i.e., cross-relationship effects). These findings suggest that individuals engaged in polyamory treat these relationships as distinct and independent from one another—forming attachments with each partner based on the specifics of that relationship. Understanding attachment processes in polyamorous relationships provides new directions for exploring the diversities of intimate partnering and theory expansion

Differences in Empathic Concern and Perspective Taking Across 63 Countries

Cultural practices socialize people to relate to others in different ways. One critical way in which these interpersonal bonds are formed and maintained is via empathy, our emotional reactivity toward others’ experiences. However, the extent to which individuals from different cultures vary in their dispositional empathy, and the correlates of these differences, are relatively unknown. Thus, the current study explored cultural variation in empathy, and how this variation is related to psychological characteristics and prosocial behavior across cultures. Evidence from an original sample of 104,365 adults across 63 countries reveals that higher empathy countries also have higher levels of collectivism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, self-esteem, emotionality, subjective well-being, and prosocial behavior. These findings reveal that empathy is situated within a broader nomological network of other psychological characteristics, emotional expression and experiences, and prosocial behavior across cultures. The current study expands our understanding about how psychological characteristics vary across cultures and how these characteristics can manifest in broader national indicators of prosocial behavior

Age differences in free will and control perceptions across the lifespan and around the world

Variation in free will and control perceptions has been examined across the development of young children, adults, and in several different countries. In two studies (three samples; total N = 492,134), older adults believed less in free will, fatalistic determinism, and perceived less control over their lives than younger adults. In Study 2 (Samples 1 [48 countries] and 2 [99 countries]), control perceptions were highest among individuals who lived in countries that were more indulgent (versus restricted). Country-level characteristics often moderated the link between age and control perceptions, although variation in age differences was relatively small. The current studies are the largest and most comprehensive investigations of demographic and cultural differences in free will and control perceptions. The findings are discussed in the context of the mechanisms that drive changes in free will and control perceptions across the lifespan and across cultures

Geographic variation in empathy: A state-level analysis

Empathy is often studied at the individual level, but little is known about variation in empathy across geographic regions and how this variation is associated with important regional-level outcomes. The present study examined associations between state-level empathy, prosocial behavior, and antisocial behavior in the United States. Participants were 79,563 U.S. residential adults who completed measures of cognitive and emotional empathy (i.e., perspective taking and empathic concern). Information on prosocial and antisocial behavior was retrieved from publicly available government databases. All indices of empathy were related to lower rates of violent crime, aggravated assault, and robbery. Total empathy was associated with higher well-being and higher volunteer rates. Implications for geographic variation in empathy, prosocial behavior, and antisocial behavior are discussed

MLK Day and Racial Attitudes: Liking the Group More but Its Members Less

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113780/1/pops12171.pd

Personality change across the life span: Insights from a cross‐cultural, longitudinal study

ObjectivePersonality traits are characterized by both stability and change across the life span. Many of the mechanisms hypothesized to cause personality change (e.g., the timing of various social roles, physical health, and cultural values) differ considerably across culture. Moreover, personality consistency is valued highly in Western societies, but less so in non‐Western societies. Few studies have examined how personality changes differently across cultures.MethodWe employed a multilevel modeling approach to examine age‐related changes in Big Five personality traits in two large panel studies of Americans (n = 6,259; Mage = 46.85; 52.5% female) and Japanese (n = 1,021; Mage = 54.28; 50.9% female). Participants filled out personality measures twice, over either a 9‐year interval (for Americans) or a 4‐year period (for Japanese).ResultsChanges in Agreeableness and Openness to Experience did not systematically vary across cultures; changes in Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Conscientiousness did vary across cultures. Further, Japanese show significantly greater fluctuation in the level of all the traits tested over time than Americans.ConclusionsThe culture‐specific social, ecological, and life‐course factors that are associated with personality change are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144245/1/jopy12332_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144245/2/jopy12332.pd

Longitudinal actor, partner, and similarity effects of personality on well-being

The current study aimed to conceptually replicate previous studies on the effects of actor personality, partner personality, and personality similarity on general and relational well-being by using response surface analyses and a longitudinal sample of 4,464 romantic couples. Similar to previous studies using difference scores and profile correlations, results from response surface analyses indicated that personality similarity explained a small amount of variance in well-being as compared with the amount of variance explained by linear actor and partner effects. However, response surface analyses also revealed that second-order terms (i.e., the interaction term and quadratic terms of actor and partner personality) were systematically linked to couples' well-being for all traits except neuroticism. In particular, most response surfaces showed a complex pattern in which the effect of similarity and dissimilarity on well-being depended on the level and combination of actor and partner personality. In addition, one small but robust similarity effect was found, indicating that similarity in agreeableness was related to women's experience of support across the eight years of the study. The discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for theory and research on personality similarity in romantic relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)

Prospective and dyadic associations between expectant parents’ prenatal hormone changes and postpartum parenting outcomes

During the transition to parenthood, both men and women experience hormone changes that are thought to promote parental care. Yet very few studies have explicitly tested the hypothesis that prenatal hormone changes are associated with postpartum parenting behavior. In a longitudinal study of 27 first‐time expectant couples, we assessed whether prenatal hormone changes were moderated by self‐ and partner‐reported parenting outcomes at 3 months postpartum. Expectant fathers showed prenatal declines in testosterone and estradiol, and larger declines in these hormones were associated with greater contributions to household and infant care tasks postpartum. Women whose partners showed larger testosterone declines also reported receiving more support and more help with household tasks. Expectant mothers showed prenatal increases in testosterone and estradiol, and larger increases in these hormones were associated with lower partner‐rated support. Together, our findings provide some of the first evidence that prenatal hormone changes may indeed be functional and that the implications of these changes may be detectable by co‐parents.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135629/1/dev21469_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135629/2/dev21469.pd

Age and gender differences in narcissism: A comprehensive study across eight measures and over 250,000 participants

Age and gender differences in narcissism have been studied often. However, considering the rich history of narcissism research accompanied by its diverging conceptualizations, little is known about age and gender differences across various narcissism measures. The present study investigated age and gender differences and their interactions across eight widely used narcissism instruments (i.e., Narcissistic Personality Inventory, Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale, Dirty Dozen, Psychological Entitlement Scale, Narcissistic Personality Disorder Symptoms from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Version IV, Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire-Short Form, Single-Item Narcissism Scale, and brief version of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory). The findings of Study 1 (N = 5,736) revealed heterogeneity in how strongly the measures are correlated. Some instruments loaded clearly on one of the three factors proposed by previous research (i.e., Neuroticism, Extraversion, Antagonism), while others cross-loaded across factors and in distinct ways. Cross-sectional analyses using each measure and meta-analytic results across all measures (Study 2) with a total sample of 270,029 participants suggest consistent linear age effects (random effects meta-analytic effect of r = -.104), with narcissism being highest in young adulthood. Consistent gender differences also emerged (random effects meta-analytic effect was -.079), such that men scored higher in narcissism than women. Quadratic age effects and Age × Gender effects were generally very small and inconsistent. We conclude that despite the various conceptualizations of narcissism, age and gender differences are generalizable across the eight measures used in the present study. However, their size varied based on the instrument used. We discuss the sources of this heterogeneity and the potential mechanisms for age and gender differences