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Original Articles

Attachment to God, adult attachment, and spiritual pathology: mediator and moderator effects

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Pages 795-808 | Received 11 Mar 2015, Accepted 02 Sep 2015, Published online: 16 Oct 2015
 

Abstract

In this exploratory study, we examined moderated mediation models grounded in psychoanalytic and attachment theory regarding the correspondence between adult attachment and Divine–human relating in a sample of graduate students in the USA. Results supported the correspondence hypothesis as positive correlations between adult attachment dimensions and attachment to God dimensions were observed. An interaction effect was observed as spiritual grandiosity moderated the indirect effect between insecure adult attachment and insecure God attachment dimensions through spiritual instability. Results therefore provided support for the theoretical notion that spiritual dysregulation can function as a mechanism of the attachment correspondence that varies as a function of spiritual grandiosity. Findings are discussed in the context of advancing existing theory on implicit models of attachment correspondence and the nature of the association between spiritual insecurity and spiritual grandiosity.

Acknowledgements

This project was supported by a grant from the Fetzer Institute (#2266).

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