Adult romantic attachment orientations reflect different ways in which people regulate and cope with negative emotions in relationships. In our prior NIMH grant, we documented how stressful events differentially affect personal and relational well-being (e.g., marital satisfaction and depression) in people who have different attachment orientations (secure, avoidant, or ambivalent). The current application has two major aims: (1) to follow a large sample of first-time parents across a chronically stressful life transition (having a baby), documenting systematic changes in marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms in wives and husbands with different attachment orientations; (2) to investigate how different attachment orientations are associated with different modes of information processing in controlled, experimental studies. Study 1 will be a 2-year, multi-wave transition to parenthood study designed to expand upon and clarify our previous research. Studies 2-4 will be laboratory investigations involving long-term dating couples subjected to different kinds of acute stressors. Specifically, Study 2 will examine (a) how people with different attachment orientations perceive the emotional support they give to and receive from their romantic partners when resolving relationship problems, (b) the kinds of attributions they make for their partners? supportive or unsupportive behaviors, and (c) how their memory for events related to support changes over time. Studies 3 and 4 will investigate how attachment orientations and situational factors affect selective exposure to information regarding one?s partner/relationship. Study 3 will test whether highly ambivalent persons selectively seek and attend to negative relationship information when their attachment insecurities have been activated by unsupportive acts from their partners. Study 4 will test whether highly avoidant persons defensively exclude information concerning their romantic partners? emotional states and needs when such knowledge could activate their attachment systems. This new research should shed light on how three facets of information processing-selective attention, memory, and social construal (attribution)-are associated with increases vs. declines in personal and relational well-being in stressful situations.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01MH049599-04
Application #
6455911
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-RPHB-4 (01))
Program Officer
Morf, Carolyn
Project Start
1995-07-01
Project End
2006-08-31
Budget Start
2002-09-20
Budget End
2003-08-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
$250,530
Indirect Cost
Name
Texas A&M University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
047006379
City
College Station
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
77845
Simpson, Jeffry A; Rholes, W Steven (2018) Adult attachment orientations and well-being during the transition to parenthood. Curr Opin Psychol 25:47-52
Simpson, Jeffry A; Steven Rholes, W (2017) Adult Attachment, Stress, and Romantic Relationships. Curr Opin Psychol 13:19-24
Wilson, Carol L; Simpson, Jeffry A (2016) Childbirth Pain, Attachment Orientations, and Romantic Partner Support During Labor and Delivery. Pers Relatsh 23:622-644
Fillo, Jennifer; Simpson, Jeffry A; Rholes, W Steven et al. (2015) Dads doing diapers: Individual and relational outcomes associated with the division of childcare across the transition to parenthood. J Pers Soc Psychol 108:298-316
Marshall, Emma M; Simpson, Jeffry A; Rholes, W Steven (2015) Personality, communication, and depressive symptoms across the transition to parenthood: A dyadic longitudinal investigation. Eur J Pers 29:216-234
Overall, Nickola C; Simpson, Jeffry A (2015) Attachment and Dyadic Regulation Processes. Curr Opin Psychol 1:61-666
Simpson, Jeffry A; Overall, Nickola C (2014) Partner Buffering of Attachment Insecurity. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 23:54-59
Simpson, Jeffry A; Kim, John S; Fillo, Jennifer et al. (2011) Attachment and the management of empathic accuracy in relationship-threatening situations. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 37:242-54
Simpson, Jeffry A; Collins, W Andrew; Salvatore, Jessica E (2011) The Impact of Early Interpersonal Experience on Adult Romantic Relationship Functioning: Recent Findings from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 20:355-359
Orina, M Minda; Collins, W Andrew; Simpson, Jeffry A et al. (2011) Developmental and dyadic perspectives on commitment in adult romantic relationships. Psychol Sci 22:908-15

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