Trajectories of attachment in older age: interpersonal trauma and its consequences

ABSTRACT

Previous studies suggest that attachment insecurities may increase after trauma exposure, an effect documented only at a group level. This study explores the heterogeneity of changes over time and examines the associations of the nature of the traumatic event (interpersonal and nonpersonal), and its consequences (posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] and loneliness) with attachment trajectories. Two groups of Israeli veterans participated: 164 former prisoners-of-war and 185 combat veterans. Attachment was assessed at four points (1991–2015). Risk factors were evaluated in 1991. Using latent growth mixture modeling, trajectories of attachment insecurities were explored. Three avoidance trajectories (stability, decrease, inverse u-shaped) and two anxiety trajectories (stability, decrease) were identified. The inverse u-shaped avoidance trajectory was associated with captivity, humiliation, loneliness, and PTSD, and stable avoidance was associated with loneliness. Stable anxiety was associated with captivity and loneliness. Attachment insecurities can change during aging and persist decades after a trauma. Trauma-related risk factors are related to more deleterious trajectories.

KEYWORDS:

• Attachment insecurities
• trajectories
• war trauma
• risk factor
• older age

Acknowledgments

We thank all study participants for their repeated collaboration and we thank Prof. K. Ginzburg for her valuable advice in writing this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the I-CORE Program of the Planning and Budgeting Committee and The Israel Science Foundation: [Grant Number 1916/12].