| The quality of early relationships with parents forms mental representations or Internal Working Models (IWMs), of secure or insecure attachment quality that serve as the fundamental basis for personality development and social interactions. Experiences are screened through these IWMs guiding feelings, emotions, cognitions and behaviors in relationships throughout one's life. Bowlby (1973) suggested that IWMs are activated when people are faced with stressful life situations and proposed that attachment anxiety, avoidance, and detachment influence physical, emotional, and mental health.; Four studies assessed the relation between self-reported attachment quality (Secure, Fearful, Preoccupied and Dismissing) and adaptive behavior to life events in college students. Study 1 (N = 239) assessed intimacy, problem-solving, coping skills, and physical well-being. Secure attachment was correlated with emotionally closer and more trusting relationships, better coping skills, and fewer reported psychophysiological symptoms than those with insecure attachment. Study 2 (N = 294) related attachment patterns to a variety of indices of psychological health (including anxiety, depression, and anorexia). Secure attachment was related to significantly lower risks of developing psychopathology. The relation between attachment quality, emotional health, Emotional Intelligence (EI), social support, and prospective monitoring of psychophysiological symptoms was investigated in Study 3 (N = 176). Secure attachment was found to be related with higher EI, emotional health, high levels of social support, and physical health. Finally, Study 4 (N = 289) replicated the findings of Study 3 and included cardiovascular and immune response (Salivary-Immunoglobulin A, [S-IgA]) to a laboratory-induced-stressor. Secure persons indicated significantly better coping, whereas Dismissing and Fearful persons demonstrated poorer coping as indicated by increased Heart Rate and decreased S-IgA response.; In conclusion, the results from these studies support Bowlby's theoretical proposition that resilience developed and demonstrated in secure attachment is expressed in a variety of situations, i.e., in personal and interpersonal relationships, social problem solving, perceived stress, social support, and in health, including psychological, emotional, physical and immunological. In contrast, those with insecure patterns of attachment engage in intimate and interpersonal relationships of poorer quality, have negative expectations, are at a higher risk to develop psychopathology and psychophysiological symptoms, and show a different S-IgA response to stress. |
