The Relationship of Emotional Expression and Experience to Adult Attachment Style
Author(s): Sandra L. Kerr, Alison M. Melley, Laura Travea, Michele Pole
Abstract: The present study explored the relationship between adult attachment style and emotional expressivity and experience. An adult attachment scale, two measures of emotional expressivity, and two measures of emotional experience were administered to 346 men and women of college age. Results showed that participants with a secure attachment style reported the highest levels of emotional expressivity and positive emotional experience. Those with an insecure/ambivalent attachment style also rated themselves high on overall expressivity but, in contrast to secure participants, reported high levels of negative emotional experience. Those with an insecure/avoidant attachment style scored the lowest on measures of emotional expressivity and experience. There was also evidence suggesting that relationship status may mediate emotional expressivity for the insecure/ambivalent group. Ambivalent students involved in a relationship reported high emotional expressivity, whereas those who were unattached were low in self-rated emotional expressivity.
Pages: 108-123
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