The Effect Of Adult Attachment On Single Working Women’ Social Anxiety: The Mediating Effect Of Emotion Regulation Strategies

Despite substantial evidence that attachment dimensions are associated with maladaptive interpersonal behaviors and dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies,few studies have explored the relationship between adult attachment and social anxiety in single working women.In this thesis,with reference to the legal concept of "single" and the specificity of the subjects in this thesis,women who are currently non-married(including unmarried,divorced and widowed),and who are employed and have income are defined as "single working women".The purpose of this study was to investigate whether adult attachment(attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance)is associated with social anxiety in single working women and whether emotion regulation strategies(reappraisal and suppression)play a role in the relationship between adult attachment and social anxiety in single working women.In Study 1,522 working women aged 20-47 in Shanghai were selected as subjects,including 267 single working women and 255 married working women,and the Experience in Close Relationships Scale and the Interaction Anxiousness Scale were used to measure adult attachment and social anxiety in metropolitan working women.The results found that adult attachment was significantly and positively correlated with social anxiety in single working women,the level of social anxiety was significantly higher in single working women than in married working women,and adult attachment had a significant predictive effect on social anxiety in single working women.In Study 2,326 single working women from 20 to 47 in Shanghai were reselected and the effects of adult attachment and use of emotion regulation strategy on social anxiety among single working women were measured using the Experience in Close Relationships Scale,Emotion Regulation Questionnaire,and Interaction Anxiousness Scale,The results revealed that social anxiety among single working women was significantly negatively related to cognitive reappraisal strategy and positively related to expressive suppression strategy in emotion regulation strategies.The cognitive reappraisal component of the emotion regulation strategy mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and social anxiety.The cognitive reappraisal strategy and the expressive suppression strategy did not mediate the relationship between attachment avoidance and social anxiety in single working women.The following conclusions were drawn from the study.(1)Adult attachment is a significant predictor of social anxiety in single working women.(2)The use of emotion regulation strategy partially mediated the relationship between adult attachment and social anxiety.