Creating a Safe Haven and Secure Base: A Feasibility and Pilot Study of Emotionally Focused Mentoring to Enhance Attachment Security
Publisher
The University of Arizona.Rights
Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.Abstract
Attachment insecurity is a transdiagnostic marker of risk that is associated with experiencing negative mental, social, and health outcomes (Ein-Dor, Viglin, & Doron, 2016). Attachment theory is an established framework of human development that identifies maladaptive emotion dysregulation as the root cause of this distress. Although approximately 30-40% of people are insecurely attached in the general population, no psychological interventions focus exclusively on enhancing attachment security. Based on the NIH Stage Model of Intervention Development, the current study fills this gap by using feasibility and acceptability data to pilot test a novel intervention program, called Emotionally-Focused Mentoring (EFM). EFM targets emotion regulation capacities for insecurely attached young adults using a creative attachment-based approach, pairing mentees (i.e., insecurely attached first-year college students) with a warm and trained mentor for five weeks (i.e., a securely attached upperclassmen trained in basic principles of Emotionally-Focused Therapy). Participants completed self-report assessments three different times over the course of five weeks. Using Bayesian growth curve models to study change across five weeks, participants reported decreases in attachment anxiety (b = -0.32, SE = 0.05, [95% CI = -0.43, -0.21]) and avoidance (b = -0.19, SE = 0.04, [95% CI = -0.27, -0.11]), decreases in emotion regulation difficulties (b = -0.19, SE = 0.04, [95% CI = -0.26, -0.12]), decreases in loneliness (b = -0.17, SE = 0.04, [95% CI = -0.25, -0.09]), decreases in depressive symptoms (b = -3.13, SE = 0.38, [95% CI = [-3.86, -2.39]) as well as increases in self-esteem (b = 0.13, SE = 0.02, [95% CI = [0.09, 0.18]). Mediation analyses revealed that difficulties with emotion regulation partially explained the changes seen in attachment insecurity (both anxiety and avoidance) as well as the association between attachment insecurity and depressive symptoms. More research is needed to understand if these associations are causal; nevertheless, EFM may be a promising and low-cost way to improve emotion regulatory capacities, attachment security, and mental health outcomes for at-risk young adults or adolescents.Type
textElectronic Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.Degree Level
doctoralDegree Program
Graduate CollegePsychology