اجتناب عاطفی و نشخوار فکری به عنوان واسطه ارتباط دلبستگی بزرگسالان و افشای هیجانی

The authors evaluated emotional avoidance as a mediator of the relation between attachment avoidance (i.e., fear of dependency) and emotional disclosure and rumination as a mediator of the relation between attachment anxiety (i.e., fear of rejection) and emotional disclosure. Two operational definitions were used for each of three variables – emotional avoidance, rumination, and emotional disclosure – such that hypotheses were tested on generalized self-appraisals and responses to specific emotional events. College students (N = 116) first completed generalized self-report measures of attachment, expressive suppression (i.e., emotional avoidance), rumination, and emotional-disclosure tendencies. Then, during a 7-day diary study, they provided daily reports of emotional avoidance, rumination, and disclosure concerning the day’s most unpleasant event. Attachment avoidance was negatively related to disclosure tendencies and daily-event disclosure; emotional avoidance was supported as a mediator in the generalized self-report analyses. Attachment anxiety was positively related to both measures of rumination, and daily-event rumination was positively related to daily-event disclosure, but mediation was not supported in either analysis. The findings suggest implications for theories of attachment and emotion regulation.

In Western cultures, when people are upset, they often look for someone with whom to talk. Such emotional disclosure (i.e., talking about one’s distress) often increases in concordance with the amount of distress experienced, such that emotionally intense experiences are disclosed more than emotionally trivial experiences ( Cano et al., 2012 and Garrison et al., 2012). Although disclosure of one’s distress is not always adaptive, in general, emotional disclosure tends to be beneficial ( Frattaroli, 2006 and Kennedy-Moore and Watson, 2001). For example, emotional disclosure to others can reduce intrusive thoughts ( Lepore, Ragan, & Jones, 2000) and reduce the intensity of the emotion ( Zech & Rimé, 2005). Despite the advantages of disclosing distress, many individuals do not disclose distress even in the face of an emotionally intense experience. That is, individuals differ in their tendency to disclose personally distressing information across situations. Low-disclosing individuals experience poorer well-being than individuals who tend to disclose distress, including lower levels of social support and self-esteem and higher levels of depression and loneliness (see Kahn, Hucke, Bradley, Glinski, & Malak, 2012). Because of these negative outcomes, there is value in examining the processes that are associated with problematic levels of emotional disclosure.