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- Title
Attachment anxiety, verbal immediacy, and blood pressure: Results from a laboratory analog study following marital separation.
- Authors
LEE, LAUREN A.; SBARRA, DAVID A.; MASON, ASHLEY E.; LAW, RITA W.
- Abstract
Marital separation and divorce increase risk for all-cause morbidity and mortality. Using a laboratory analog paradigm, this study examined attachment anxiety, language use, and blood pressure (BP) reactivity among 119 ( n = 43 men, 76 women) recently separated adults who were asked to mentally reflect on their relationship history and separation experience. A language use composite of verbal immediacy from participants' stream-of-consciousness recordings about their separation experience as a behavioral index of attachment-related hyperactivation was created. Verbal immediacy moderated the association between attachment anxiety and BP at the beginning of a divorce-specific activation task. Participants reporting high attachment anxiety who discussed their separation in a first-person, present-oriented, and highly engaged manner evidenced the highest levels of BP at the start of the divorce-specific task. Results provide a deeper understanding of the association between marital dissolution and health and suggest that verbal immediacy may be a useful behavioral index of hyperactivating coping strategies.
- Subjects
ATTACHMENT behavior; SOCIAL anxiety; VERBAL immediacy; REGULATION of blood pressure; SEPARATION (Law); DIVORCE; PSYCHOLOGY
- Publication
Personal Relationships, 2011, Vol 18, Issue 2, p285
- ISSN
1350-4126
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1475-6811.2011.01360.x