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Attachment, emotion regulation, and adaptation to breast cancer: assessment of a mediational hypothesis
Author(s) -
Ávila Marisa,
Brandão Tânia,
Teixeira Joana,
Coimbra Joaquim Luis,
Matos Paula Mena
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
psycho‐oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.41
H-Index - 137
eISSN - 1099-1611
pISSN - 1057-9249
DOI - 10.1002/pon.3817
Subject(s) - psychology , rumination , breast cancer , interpersonal communication , adaptation (eye) , developmental psychology , interpersonal relationship , attachment theory , clinical psychology , cancer , social psychology , medicine , cognition , neuroscience
Objectives This study examines the links between attachment, adaptation to breast cancer, and the mediating role played by emotional regulation processes. Methods Participants were 127 women with breast cancer recruited in two public hospitals of Porto and at the Portuguese Cancer League. Women completed measures of attachment, quality of life, and emotion regulation. Path models were used to examine the associations between the constructs and to test the mediational hypotheses. Results Significant associations were found between attachment and adaptation. Dimensions of emotion regulation totally or partially mediated the associations between attachment and adaptation outcomes. Attachment security effects on interpersonal relations were totally mediated by communicating emotions. Also, attachment anxiety effect on physical well‐being was totally mediated by rumination. Attachment avoidance effects on psychological outcomes were totally mediated by emotional control and partially mediated by communicating emotions for the case of interpersonal relations. Conclusions This study highlights the importance of addressing emotional regulation jointly with attachment to deepen the comprehension of the relational processes implicated in adaptation to breast cancer. Results supported a mediational hypothesis, presenting emotional regulation processes as relevant dimensions for the understanding of attachment associations with adaptation to breast cancer. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.