Attitudes Towards Continuing Bonds, Attachment Vulnerability, and the Moderating Effects of Gender

Abstract

This correlational study involved a student sample. Factor analysis yielded two continuing bond attitude components: the view that maintaining an emotional connection with the memory of the deceased was adaptive (MtA) and the view that such a connection was maladaptive (MtD). MtD correlated positively with attachment insecurity and general attachment vulnerability and negatively with the perception of social support, while MtA correlated positively with the perception of social support. Men scored higher in MtD and lower in MtA than women, and gender moderated the effect of attachment insecurity on MtD and that of previous bereavement experience on both MtD and MtA.

Notes

*p < .05; **p < .01.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Antigonos Sochos

Antigonos Sochos obtained his PhD from King's College, University of London, and is a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Bedfordshire (UK). His main area of research is attachment theory, on which he has written a number of academic journal and conference papers.

Anita Bone

Anita Bone is a psychologist CBT counselor, and a member of the British Psychological Society and the British Association of Counseling and Psychotherapy. She is currently working with drug users in Bedfordshire.