The role of attachment insecurities and self-construal on bereavement outcomes

Abstract

Most bereaved individuals are able to maintain daily routines and functions, yet a small subset will suffer distress over the course of many years. Part of this distress is due to the separation anxiety that follows the loss of an attachment figure. The loss of an attachment figure may also lead the bereaved to feel a loss of identity, or loss of sense of self. The cultural construction of identity is focused on an independent individualist self-construal. In order to better understand the underlying mechanisms of bereavement outcomes, one purpose of this study was to examine the role of attachment insecurities with complicated grief, depression and anxiety. The other purpose of this study was to explore how an independent or interdependent self-construal may act as a moderator between attachment insecurities and bereavement outcomes.

Participants were 167 bereaved Chinese, in Hong Kong. The quantitative study was cross-sectional and was collected through self-administered questionnaires.

In contrast to Bowlby’s original theory of attachment, current research indicates that attachment can be relationship-specific. In order to explore if attachment insecurities to the deceased were different from attachment insecurities in general, a t-test was performed. The t-test indicated that there was a statistically significant difference in Relationship Scale Questionnaire (RSQ) scores from general attachment avoidance (M = 48.77, SD = 8.65), to specific attachment avoidance to the deceased (M = 42.47, SD = 10.59), t (160) =7.82, p <. 001. There was a statistically significant difference in scores from general attachment anxiety (M = 23.01, SD = 6.73) to specific attachment anxiety (M = 19.88, SD = 7.09), t (160) = 6.32 p <. 001. These results indicate that global attachment insecurities are not necessarily the same as deceased-specific attachment insecurities.

To further explore bereavement outcomes with global attachment insecurities and deceased-specific attachment insecurities, a regression analysis was performed. Results indicated that global attachment anxiety was positively associated with all three bereavement outcomes; complicated grief (ß=.47, p<.001), depression (ß=.63, p<.001) and anxiety (ß=.49, p<.001). Global attachment avoidance had neither a positive nor negative correlation of the bereavement outcomes except for symptoms of anxiety, yet had a small negative association (ß=.-.18, p<.05), however deceased specific attachment avoidance had a negative correlation of symptoms of complicated grief (ß=.-.39, p<.001) and depression (ß=-.24, p<.001).

Scores indicated that an interdependent self-construal had a moderating effect on the interaction between global attachment anxiety and symptoms of complicated grief. An independent self-construal had a moderating effect between deceased-specific attachment avoidance and symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Attachment can vary with relationships; global attachment is not the same as deceased-specific attachment. Loss of identity has been explored in the bereavement literature, but to the best of our knowledge, self-construal has not been explored as a moderator between attachment insecurities and bereavement outcomes. The limitations of this study are that it is cross-sectional; therefore, attachment, and bereavement outcomes were not measured before and after the loss. The population may not be generalizable as the participants were all Hong Kong Chinese.

KEY WORDS: Attachment Insecurities, Bereavement, Complicated Grief, Interdependent Self-Construal, Independent Self-Construal