Attachment, Language, and Divorce: The Role of Linguistic Immediacy in Coping

Abstract

One hundred twenty-nine adults (46 men) participated in a study following marital separation. Along with self-report measures, participants completed a stream of consciousness task asking them to speak into a recording device about their divorce experience. Their speech was analyzed for linguistic patterns demonstrating verbal immediacy and psychological distancing. We hypothesized that those with high levels of anxious attachment, in conjunction with high levels of verbal immediacy would have worse divorce adjustment than those with lower levels of both constructs. We also predicted that those with high levels of avoidance and high levels of psychological distancing would also have poorer adjustment than those with lower levels. We found that verbal immediacy correlated with divorce adjustment, and that divorce adjustment correlated with anxiety although there was no interaction among the three variables. Our exploratory analyses showed that while avoidance was not directly linked with poor adjustment, avoidant individuals report increased feelings of intrusiveness over time. The study of individual differences in adjustment can help improve our understanding of coping mechanisms, language and attachment.