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Negative affectivity as a mediator of the association between adult attachment and marital satisfaction
Author(s) -
DAVILA JOANNE,
BRADBURY THOMAS N.,
FINCHAM FRANK
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
personal relationships
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.81
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1475-6811
pISSN - 1350-4126
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6811.1998.tb00183.x
Subject(s) - negative affectivity , psychology , association (psychology) , positive affectivity , insecure attachment , affect (linguistics) , developmental psychology , attachment theory , mediator , social psychology , clinical psychology , personality , psychotherapist , medicine , communication
Although the association between adult attachment and marital satisfaction is well documented, research has not examined processes by which attachment affects satisfaction. Drawing on attachment‐oriented conceptualizations of affect regulation, the present study tested the hypothesis that negative affectivity mediates the association between attachment and marital satisfaction. Data from two samples of married couples were used to test the hypothesis. In both samples, negative affectivity mediated the association between some aspects of attachment insecurity and marital dissatisfaction, although attachment also retained a direct association with marital satisfaction in a number of cases. Results are discussed in terms of attachment‐oriented conceptualizations of the function of negative emotion in marriage, and the empirical and conceptual overlap between attachment and negative affectivity.