The association between insecure adult attachment and psychosomatic symptoms as mediated by emotion regulation

Abstract

Adult insecure attachment encompasses both anxious and avoidant attachment. Previous research links anxious attachment to maladaptive emotion up-regulation, and avoidant attachment to maladaptive emotion down-regulation. Research suggests that both insecure attachment and maladaptive emotion regulation contribute to psychosomatic symptoms. Therefore, this study aims to investigate whether the increased susceptibility to psychosomatic symptoms in insecure individuals is mediated by maladaptive emotion regulation. A general population sample (n = 157) completed an online survey comprising measures of attachment, emotion regulation, psychosomatic symptoms and perceived stress. Perceived stress levels were controlled for due to their recognised impact on psychosomatic symptoms. Four simple mediations were conducted using the PROCESS macro for SPSS. The results revealed that emotion down-regulation negatively mediated the relation between attachment avoidance and psychosomatic symptoms while emotion up-regulation did not mediate the relation between attachment anxiety and psychosomatic symptoms. These findings suggest that emotion regulation emerges as a predictor for psychosomatic symptoms in avoidant but not anxious attachment. Future studies should explore the emotional influences of emotion regulation in insecure attachment across diverse contexts.