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Attachment and dysfunctional rumination: The mediating role of Emotional Intelligence abilities
Personality and Individual Differences 53 (2012) 753–758
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Attachment and dysfunctional rumination: The mediating role of Emotional Intelligence abilities Tiziana Lanciano a,⇑, Antonietta Curci a, Konstantinos Kafetsios b, Lucia Elia a, Vanda Lucia Zammuner c a
Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Bari ‘‘A. Moro’’, Italy Department of Psychology, University of Crete, Greece c Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization Processes, University of Padua, Italy b
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 8 February 2012 Received in revised form 12 May 2012 Accepted 21 May 2012 Available online 26 June 2012 Keywords: Attachment style Dysfunctional rumination Emotional Intelligence Emotional processing
a b s t r a c t Integrating theories of attachment and maladaptive rumination, the present study tested the hypothesis that Emotional Intelligence (EI) abilities mediate relationships between insecure adult attachment orientations (Anxiety and Avoidance) and dysfunctional rumination (Brooding and Depression-related). The results showed that attachment anxiety and avoidance were positively associated with brooding and depression-related rumination, and EI abilities mediated these associations. Emotion perception and management abilities partially mediated the relationship of anxious attachment with brooding rumination, and fully mediated the relationship between avoidant attachment and brooding rumination. Using and understanding emotion abilities fully mediated links between anxious and avoidant attachment and depression related rumination. The results highlight the role of emotion-information processing in the adoption of maladaptive rumination in insecure attachment. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction In recent years, research on adult attachment has significantly increased our understanding of the cognitive and emotional processes involved in psychological health and well-being (e.g., Mikulincer & Florian, 2001). A vibrant research literature on adult attachment examines the emotional processes activated when dealing with stressful events, and related depressive reactions. The present study extends this line of research by examining whether links between insecure attachment and dysfunctional rumination are mediated by emotional and cognitive processing associated with Emotional Intelligence (EI) abilities. Dysfunctional rumination is defined as an excessive and maladaptive focus on negative feelings, their causes and consequences; it is a mode of responding to distress that involves repetitively and passively focusing on symptoms of distress and their possible causes and consequences (Lyubomirsky & Nolen-Hoeksema, 1995). Focusing on problems, on depressed mood, and on other components of negative self-experience has maladaptive and dysfunctional consequences (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991). According to Response Styles Theory (RST; Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991), ruminating on negative events increases the influence of negative cognitions on the person’s depressive state, by amplifying ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Bari ‘‘A. Moro’’, Piazza Umberto I 1, 70121 Bari, Italy. Tel.: +39 0805714501. E-mail address: [email protected] (T. Lanciano). 0191-8869/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.05.027
those negative aspects. A maladaptive cycle of negative thinking is thus maintained or even speeded up through this process (e.g., Lyubomirsky & Nolen-Hoeksema, 1995). Brooding and depression-related thoughts are two possible styles of maladaptive rumination (Treynor, Gonzalez, & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2003). Brooding rumination is defined as moody pondering, thinking ‘‘anxiously or gloomily’’ about events (Woolf, 1981, p. 140). Depression-related rumination is seen as a tendency towards developing or maintaining a depressive symptomatology. According to attachment theory and research, dysfunctional rumination is related to adult attachment orientations. Whereas secure attachment is associated with flexible and suitable adjustment to emotional experience, by acknowledging distress and tolerating stressful events without being submerged by them (Cooper, Shaver, & Collins, 1998), attachment anxiety and avoidance are related to psychological distress and ruminative tendencies (e.g., emotional wondering; emotional distance from distress). Individuals high on attachment anxiety typically use hyper-activating strategies to regulate anticipated or felt distress, with the cognitive consequence of being hyper-vigilant towards negative emotion. Several studies have associated anxious attachment with emotion-focused coping (e.g., wishful thinking, selfblame, rumination; Ognibene & Collins, 1998). Individuals high on avoidant attachment, on the other hand, typically use deactivating strategies that limit accessibility to distress. For instance, Berant, Mikulincer, and Florian (2001) found that avoidant mothers at high levels of distress engage in dysfunctional emotion-focused coping. Recently, a handful of studies have established that inse-
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cure attachment is associated with dysfunctional rumination. In particular, Pearson, Watkins, Mullan, and Moberly (2010) found that current levels of depression fully accounted for the relationship between both anxious and avoidant attachment with brooding. Burnette, Taylor, Worthington, and Forsyth (2007) showed that insecure attachment orientations were positively correlated with angry rumination. Saffrey and Ehrenberg (2007) found that anxious persons had higher brooding levels that affected their relationship cognitions. To gain further insight on the associations between insecure attachment and dysfunctional rumination, the present study focused on emotional and cognitive processes that may mediate such associations. We expected that the emotion-information processes reflected in Emotional Intelligence (EI) abilities – i.e., monitoring one’s own and others’ feelings, discriminating among them, and using this information to guide one’s thinking and action (Mayer & Salovey, 1997) – would mediate associations between attachment and dysfunctional rumination. People with high EI scores adapt well to stressful situations, whereas those with low EI adapt poorly, for instance by responding with depression, hopelessness and other dysfunctional strategies (Taylor, 2001). Studies have shown that high self-reported EI can influence responses to emotional arousal, and consequently play a role in promoting mental health (Gohm & Clore, 2002), and engaging in active emotional strategies (Fernández-Berrocal & Ramos, 2002). Higher levels of self-reported EI are also related to adaptive physiological and psychological strategies, such as low levels of intrusive thoughts (Ramos, Fernández-Berrocal, & Extremera, 2007; Salovey, Bedell, Detweiler, & Mayer, 1999; Salovey, Mayer, Goldman, Turvey, & Palfai, 1995), higher levels of distraction (Salovey, Stroud, Woolery, & Epel, 2002) and lower depression (Fernández-Berrocal, Salovey, Vera, Extremera, and Ramos, 2005). Research on the relationships between emotional processes involved in EI abilities and well-being outcomes has however provided somewhat controversial results too (Extremera, FernándezBerrocal, Ruiz-Aranda, & Cabello, 2006; Goldenberg, Matheson, & Mantler, 2006; Zeidner & Olnick-Shemesh, 2010). On the one hand, EI abilities seem associated with successful ways of dealing with emotional issues, such as by reducing rumination following an emotional experience (Lanciano, Curci, & Zatton, 2010). Likewise, individuals with mental disorders were found to be characterized by low levels of the EI abilities of understanding and regulating emotion (Hertel, Schütz, & Lammers, 2009). On the other hand, the relationship between high EI abilities and low depression has been found to be mediated by gender (Salguero, Extremera, & Fernández-Berrocal, in press). Moreover, EI seems to be associated with psychological well being more strongly when it is measured as a trait rather than as an ability (Goldenberg et al., 2006; Martins, Ramalho, & Morin, 2010; Schutte, Malouff, Thorsteinsson, Bhullar, & Rooke, 2007). Finally, whereas several studies have examined cognitive and emotional facets of adult attachment organization, little research has directly investigated the relationship between attachment orientations and EI abilities (Kafetsios, 2004; Kim, 2005). Available evidence indicates that secure individuals are relatively accurate in perceiving facial expressions of negative emotions, whereas avoidant individuals have low emotion-decoding accuracy scores (Magai, Distel, & Liker, 1995). Additionally, secure individuals are less threatened by potentially distressing information; they can label, experience, and express felt emotions; when under stress, they seek support as an emotion regulation strategy, and use adaptive and functional strategies (e.g., Larose, Bernier, Soucy, & Duchesne, 1999). Conversely, anxious-preoccupied individuals exhibit ready access to painful memories and a paradoxical cognitive closure in response to positive affect induction. Finally, avoidant individuals exhibit defensive exclusion of painful thoughts and memories.
1.1. Hypotheses Based on the theoretical accounts and empirical findings reported above, we expected that: H1. Attachment anxiety and avoidance will be positively associated with dysfunctional rumination. H2. EI abilities will be negatively related to insecure attachment and dysfunctional rumination. H3. Higher EI abilities will mediate associations between insecure attachment and dysfunctional rumination. As EI is conceived as comprising four abilities, we hypothesized a mediating role of all four EI abilities. 2. Methods 2.1. Participants The sample comprised 157 female undergraduate students from a large state University in Italy (Mage = 19.60; SD = 2.04). Participation in the study was voluntary. 2.2. Measures 2.2.1. Adult attachment orientations The Relationship Questionnaire (RQ; Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991) was used to assess attachment orientations. It comprises a brief-sentence prototypical-description of each of four adult attachment orientations, i.e., secure, fearful, preoccupied, dismissing; e.g., ‘‘I am comfortable without close emotional relationships. It is very important to me to feel independent and self-sufficient, and I prefer not to depend on others or have others depend on me’’. The four orientations are rated on a seven-point scale. Following Griffin and Bartholomew (1994), the four adult attachment prototypes were converted into two dimensions representing attachment anxiety and avoidance. The anxiety dimension was computed by subtracting the sum of secure and dismissing scores from the sum of fearful and preoccupied scores. The avoidance dimension resulted from subtracting the sum of secure and preoccupied scores from the sum of fearful and dismissing scores. 2.2.2. Ruminative style The Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS) was used to assess the tendency to engage in dysfunctional rumination focused on sad or depressive feelings. It is formed by twenty-two items (1 = never; 4 = always) averaged into three composite indices (Treynor et al., 2003): Brooding (e.g. ‘‘Think ‘Why do I always react this way?’’’; Cronbach’s a = .80), Depression-related rumination (e.g. ‘‘Think about how sad you feel’’; Cronbach’s a = .76), and Reflection (e.g. ‘‘Write down what you are thinking and analyze it’’; Cronbach’s a = .67). Given the aim of the study, only the first two were considered for subsequent analyses. 2.2.3. EI abilities EI abilities were assessed by the Italian version of the Mayer Salovey Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT; D’Amico and Curci, 2011; Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2002). MSCEIT has eight tasks (141 items), presented in multiple-choice format, which provide a total EI assessment score and four branch scores: (a) Perceiving (assessment of the emotional content of faces, images, and pictures); (b) Using (knowledge about how different emotions can be effective in problem solving processes); (c) Understanding (knowledge of how emotions combine and change); and (d) Managing (effectiveness of different actions in achieving a specified emotional outcome involving oneself and others). MSCEIT scores were attributed by the Consensus scoring method, i.e., based on
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what the majority of respondents in the Italian normative sample selected as correct from the emotional point of view (Curci & D’Amico, 2011). 2.3. Procedure Students were recruited during a psychology class and requested to individually fill in the MSCEIT in a laboratory room. One week later, all participants were asked to fill in the attachment and dysfunctional rumination measures. 3. Results 3.1. Preliminary analyses Average ratings and zero-order correlations among attachment orientations, dysfunctional rumination, and EI scores are reported in Table 1. As regards rumination, Brooding scores did not differ from Depression-related scores (t(156) = 1.13, n.s.). Basic statistics for the four branches of EI were consistent with most published data (Kafetsios, 2004; Mayer et al., 2002). Attachment Anxiety and Avoidance were positively associated with both dysfunctional rumination indicators, whereas they negatively correlated with the branch scores. Further, the branch scores were negatively correlated with scores of Brooding and Depression-related ruminative styles.
the link between anxiety and brooding. Nevertheless, the Perceiving and Managing abilities partially mediated the relationship of Anxious attachment with Brooding: Anxious attachment was still a significant (albeit reduced) predictor of brooding in the mediation model. Second, we tested the effects of the EI branches in mediating the association of attachment Avoidance and Brooding (see Table 3). The Perceiving and Managing abilities fully mediated the link between Avoidance and Brooding: Attachment avoidance was associated with low abilities in perceiving and managing emotions; these low EI scores in turn increased reliance upon brooding. Third, we tested the indirect effect of attachment Anxiety on Depression-related rumination via EI abilities (see Table 4). The abilities of Using and Understanding emotions fully mediated associations between attachment Anxiety and Depression-related rumination: Anxious individuals’ lower abilities in using and understanding emotions increased their reliance upon depression-related rumination. Fourth, we tested the mediating role of EI abilities on the relationship between attachment avoidance and depression-related rumination (see Table 5). The abilities of Using and Understanding emotions fully mediated the associations between Avoidance and Depression-related rumination: Avoidant individuals’ lower abilities in using and understanding emotions increased their reliance upon depression-related rumination.
4. Discussion 3.2. EI abilities as a mediator between adult attachment and dysfunctional rumination To test whether EI abilities mediate attachment effects on dysfunctional rumination, we applied a parallel multiple mediator model (Preacher & Hayes, 2008) through the PROCESS SPSS computational tool (Hayes, 2012). Figure 1 shows the theoretical mediation model. Given the limited sample size, and to prevent violation of normal distribution assumptions, the non-parametric bootstrapping method was used as a robust estimation of both direct and indirect effects (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). Bootstrapping provided a confidence interval (CI) around the indirect effect of the independent variable (insecure attachment) on the dependent variable (dysfunctional rumination) via the mediators (the four EI abilities). Multiple mediations are significant if the interval between the upper limit (UL) and lower limit (LL) of a bootstrapped 95% CI do not contain zero, which means that the mediating effect is different from zero (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). First, we tested whether the four EI abilities mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and brooding rumination (see Table 2). None of the EI abilities appeared to fully mediate
The present study examined relationships between insecure adult attachment orientations and dysfunctional rumination, and tested whether emotion-information processing, as reflected in participants’ performance in tasks measuring EI abilities, mediate those relationships. The results showed a strong relationship of dysfunctional rumination with both anxious and avoidant attachment orientations, suggesting that such orientations are associated with a diminished ability to deal with emotional troubles (Burnette et al., 2007; Ciechanowski, Walker, Katon, & Russo, 2002). Indeed, as Mikulincer and Shaver (2008) showed, insecure individuals perceive themselves as helpless in controlling the self, by amplifying painful thoughts and feelings. When regulating their emotions, anxious and avoidant individuals reject emotion-related thoughts and memories in order to either avoid emotion-related action tendencies, or inhibit both verbal and nonverbal expressions of emotion (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2008). Our results furthermore showed significant associations between EI abilities and dysfunctional rumination, supporting previous (albeit limited) evidence on the importance of individual differences in emotion-information processing for well-being
Table 1 Correlation coefficients among measures of attachment orientations, dysfunctional rumination, and Emotional Intelligence (EI).
Adult attachment Dysfunctional rumination EI
Mean (SD)
* **
p < 0.05. p < 0.001.
Avoidance Brooding Depression Perceiving Using Understanding Managing
Adult attachment
Dysfunctional rumination
EI
Anxiety
Avoidance
Brooding
Depression
Perceiving
Using
Understanding
Managing
.502** .334** .245** .224** .201* .178* .269** 1.45 (4.52)
.326** .266** .327** .287** .347** .331** 1.55 (4.46)
.454** .594** .538** .349** .560** 2.29 (.06)
.371** .430** .401** .344** 2.35 (.66)
.642** .480** .563** 108.67 (14.61)
.340** .582** 109.64 (13.66)
.455** 110.96 (13.95)
104.92 (15.02)
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a1
b1 Perceiving
a2
b2 Using
a3
b3 Understanding
a4
b4 Managing
c’ Dysfunctional Rumination
Adult Attachment
Fig. 1. The theoretical mediation model for the direct (c0 ) and the indirect effect (sum of all a b) of adult attachment on dysfunctional rumination.
Table 2 Summary of multiple mediation analyses on anxiety attachment and brooding rumination (5000 bootstraps). Independent variable IV Anxiety
* **
Mediators M
Dependent variable DV
Perceiving Brooding Using Understanding Managing
Effect of IV on M (a) .74 .61 .65 .89
**
(SE = .26) (SE = .24)* (SE = .24)* (SE = .26)**
Effect of M on DV
Direct effect
Indirect effect
Total effect
(b)
(c0 )
(a b) 95% CI
(c)
.009* .004 .000 .008*
.044 (SE = .01)**
.013 .007 .000 .010
**
(SE = .003) .022 (SE = .008)** (SE = .003) (SE = .003) (SE = .003)**
(.003–.018) (.000–.010) (.002 to .003) (.003–.017)
p < .05. p < .001.
Table 3 Summary of multiple mediation analyses on avoidance attachment and brooding rumination (5000 bootstraps).
* **
Independent variable
Mediators
Dependent variable
Effect of IV on M
Effect of M on DV
Direct effect
Indirect effect
Total effect
IV
M
DV
(a)
(b)
(c0 )
(a b)
95% CI
(c)
Avoidance
Perceiving Using Understanding Managing
Brooding
1.09 (SE = .25)** .87 (SE = .23)** 1.08 (SE = .24)** 1.11 (SE = .25)**
.013 (SE = .003)** .007 (SE = .003) .000 (SE = .003) .010 (SE = .003)**
.012 (SE = .009)
.014* .006 .004 .023*
(.006–.024) (.000–.013) (.006 to .014) (.006–.021)
.044 (SE = .01)**
p < .05. p < .001.
Table 4 Summary of multiple mediation analyses on anxiety attachment and depressive-related rumination (5000 bootstraps).
* **
Independent variable
Mediators
Dependent variable
Effect of IV on M
Effect of M on DV
Direct effect
Indirect effect
Total effect
IV
M
DV
(a)
(b)
(c0 )
(a b)
95% CI
(c)
Anxiety
Perceiving Using Understanding Managing
Depressive-related
.74 .61 .65 .89
.019 (SE = .01)
.000 .008* .006* .000
(.005 to .007) (.003–.018) (.002–.014) (.006 to .006)
.036 (SE = .01)⁄⁄
(SE = .26)** (SE = .24)* (SE = .24)* (SE = .26)**
.001 .014 .012 .000
(SE = .004) (SE = .004)** (SE = .003)** (SE = .004)
p < .05. p < .001.
Table 5 Summary of multiple mediation analyses on avoidance attachment and depressive-related rumination (5000 bootstraps).
* **
Independent variable
Mediators
Dependent variable
Effect of IV on M
Effect of M on DV
Direct effect
Indirect effect
Total effect
IV
M
DV
(a)
(b)
(c0 )
(a b)
95% CI
(c)
Avoidance
Perceiving Using Understanding Managing
Depressive-related
1.09 (SE = .25)** .87 (SE = .23)** 1.08 (SE = .24)** 1.11 (SE = .25)**
.001 .014 .012 .000
.012 (SE = .01)
.001 .012* .013* .000
(.007 to .011) (.005–.024) (.006–.023) (.007 to .009)
.039 (SE = .01)**
p < .05. p < .001
(SE = .004) (SE = .004)** (SE = .003)** (SE = .004)
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(Lanciano et al., 2010). The present findings thus indicate that EI measured as an ability can predict mental health, supporting previous evidence on the predictive validity of the MSCEIT as regards psychological well-being, depressive symptoms and anxiety (Brackett & Salovey, 2006) – but the lack of a self-reported EI measure in our study does not permit a direct comparison of the extent to which trait and ability EI models can explain the tested relationships. Our results, furthermore, contradict recent findings that EI is associated with well-being in males, but not in females (Salguero et al., in press; Brackett, Mayer, & Warner, 2004; Brackett, Rivers, Shiffman, Lerner, & Salovey, 2006; Lishner, Swin, Hong, & Vitacco, 2011) – but our study could not directly test gender differences as it included women only. Additionally, we examined the relationship between EI abilities and ruminative tendencies associated with depressive outcomes in undergraduate students only, whereas previous investigations mainly focused on depressive responses of adults. Therefore, the discrepancy between our results and previously obtained ones might be a function of differences both in participants’ sampling, and in the EI employed measures. Our study found that EI abilities mediate insecure attachment relationships with dysfunctional rumination. Higher levels of anxious and avoidant attachment were significantly associated with lower abilities of perceiving and managing emotions, increasing in turn adoption of brooding rumination. This result is consistent with previous evidence that showed insecure attachment to be related to both emotion decoding inability (Kafetsios, 2004; Magai et al., 1995), and emotion regulation helplessness (Kobak & Sceery, 1988), dysfunctional rumination to be associated with a difficulty in expressing and identifying emotions (Ciarrochi, Scott, Deane, & Heaven, 2003), and rumination to be highly affected by the ability to process emotional information (Lanciano et al., 2010). Jointly considered, the available findings suggest that rumination – an emotion regulation strategy – is strictly related to inability to appraise, express, and monitor emotions, whereas the strategy of directing thoughts away from negative emotions might be expected of people who are the emotionally intelligent (Salovey et al., 1999). Individuals differ in their ability to employ their own and others’ emotions in a variety of processes – e.g., problem solving, flexible planning, creative thinking, mood redirected attention, reasoning with emotion, motivating persistence in challenging tasks (Mayer & Salovey, 1997). An inability in using emotion-related information may cause health problems – e.g., a deficit in flexible planning following an emotional trouble may lead to depression (Skinner, 1986). Additionally, on the one hand considerable evidence links lower problem solving abilities with mental health problems (Elliott, Herrick, MacNair, & Harkins, 1994; Elliott & Marmarosh, 1994); on the other hand, self-reported EI moderates the relationship between stress and mental health – in terms of depression, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation (Ciarrochi, Deane, & Anderson, 2002). In our study, the effects of insecure attachment anxiety and avoidance on depression-related ruminative strategies were mediated by lower abilities of using and understanding emotion. Our results thus indicate that depressive rumination is associated in insecure people with the inability to use, and reason with, emotions, suggesting that anxious and avoidant individuals face serious resource limitations in emotion processing, with rumination contributing to a downward spiral of negativity. In other words, insecure people are unable to work through emotional problems and look for a solution, limitations that easily result in their developing depressive symptoms. A strong point of the present study was the use of a performance test of EI in association with attachment and dysfunctional rumination, thereby overcoming limits inherent in self-reported EI measures. Our results thus add information on how emotional pro-
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cessing is related to dysfunctional rumination and adult attachment from an individual differences perspective. Our study is not however without limitations. First, because only female participants were assessed, the strong association we found among the constructs may be due to women’s increased incidence in rumination processes (Butler & Nolen-Hoeksema, 1994) and to their higher EI ability levels (Brackett et al., 2004; Kafetsios, 2004). Second, although frequently employed in adult attachment research, our measure of attachment suffers from known limitations of a psychometric nature. Third, an exhaustive explanation of the mediated link between attachment and dysfunctional rumination would have required testing a complex model that included both attachment predictors and rumination outcomes, a test that the limited sample size of our study did not allow us to do. In sum, further studies are necessary to validate our results on the addressed topic – e.g., using larger gender and age-balanced samples, more elaborate measures of adult attachment, and possibly a longitudinal research design that would allow testing for developmental effects on emotion processing. 5. Conclusion The study provided evidence for the different role of emotioninformation processing reflected in EI abilities – perceiving and managing vs. using and understanding – on the link between insecure adult attachment orientations and, respectively, brooding and depressive rumination. References Bartholomew, K., & Horowitz, L. M. (1991). Attachment styles among young adults: A test of a four-category model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 226–244. Berant, E., Mikulincer, M., & Florian, V. (2001). The association of mothers’ attachment style and their reactions to the diagnosis of infant’s congenital heart disease. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 20, 208–232. Brackett, M. A., Mayer, J. D., & Warner, R. M. (2004). Emotional intelligence and its relation to everyday behaviour. Personality and Individual Differences, 36, 1387–1402. Brackett, M. A., Rivers, S. E., Shiffman, S., Lerner, N., & Salovey, P. (2006). Relating emotional abilities to social functioning: A comparison of self-report and performance measures of Emotional Intelligence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 780–795. Brackett, M. A., & Salovey, P. (2006). Measuring emotional intelligence with the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). Psicothema, 18, 34–41. Burnette, J. L., Taylor, K. W., Worthington, E. L., & Forsyth, D. R. (2007). Attachment and trait forgivingness: The mediating role of angry rumination. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 1585–1596. Butler, L. D., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1994). Gender differences in responses to depressed mood in a college sample. Sex Roles, 30, 331–346. Ciarrochi, J., Deane, F., & Anderson, S. (2002). Emotional intelligence moderates the relationship between stress and mental health. Personality and Individual Differences, 32, 197–209. Ciarrochi, J., Scott, G., Deane, F. P., & Heaven, P. C. L. (2003). Relations between social and emotional competence and mental health: A construct validation study. Personality and Individual Differences, 35, 1947–1963. Ciechanowski, P. S., Walker, E. A., Katon, W. J., & Russo, J. E. (2002). Attachment theory: A model of health care utilization and somatization. Psychosomatic Medicine, 64, 660–667. Cooper, M. L., Shaver, P. R., & Collins, N. L. (1998). Attachment styles, emotion regulation, and adjustment in adolescence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1380–1397. Curci, A., & D’Amico, A. (2011). Taratura italiana del Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). Firenze: O.S.. D’Amico, A., & Curci, A. (2011). Traduzione ed adattamento italiano del MayerSalovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). Firenze: O.S.. Elliott, T. R., Herrick, S. M., MacNair, R. R., & Harkins, S. W. (1994). Personality correlates of self-appraised problem solving ability: Problem orientation and trait affectivity. Journal of Personality Assessment, 63, 489–505. Elliott, T. R., & Marmarosh, C. L. (1994). Problem-solving appraisal, health complaints, and health-related expectancies. Journal of Counseling & Development, 72, 531–537. Extremera, N., Fernández-Berrocal, P., Ruiz-Aranda, D., & Cabello, R. (2006). Emotional intelligence, response styles and depression. Ansiedad y Estrés, 12, 191–205. Fernández-Berrocal, P., & Ramos, N. (2002). Corazones inteligentes. Barcelona: Kairos.
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Clark (Eds.), Blackwell handbook of social psychology: Interpersonal processes (pp. 537–557). Oxford: Blackwell. Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2008). Adult attachment and affect regulation. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment (2nd ed., pp. 503–531). New York: Guilford Press. Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1991). Responses to depression and their effects on the duration of depressive episodes. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 569–582. Ognibene, T. C., & Collins, N. L. (1998). Adult attachment styles, perceived social support, and coping strategies. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 15, 323–345. Pearson, K. A., Watkins, E. R., Mullan, E. G., & Moberly, N. J. (2010). Psychosocial correlates of depressive rumination. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 48, 784–791. Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 879–891. Ramos, N., Fernández-Berrocal, P., & Extremera, N. (2007). Perceived emotional intelligence facilitates cognitive-emotional processes of adaptation to an acute stressor. Cognition and Emotion, 21, 758–772. Saffrey, C., & Ehrenberg, M. (2007). When thinking hurts: Attachment, rumination and postrelationship adjustment. Personal Relationships, 14, 351–368. Salguero, J. M., Extremera, N., & Fernández-Berrocal (in press). Emotional intelligence and depression: The moderator role of gender. Personality and Individual Differences. http://dx/doi/org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.02.006. Salovey, P., Bedell, B., Detweiler, J. B., & Mayer, J. (1999). Coping intelligently: Emotional intelligence and the coping process. In C. R. Snyder (Ed.), Coping: The psychology of what works (pp. 141–164). New York: Oxford University Press. Salovey, P., Mayer, J., Goldman, S. L., Turvey, C., & Palfai, T. P. (1995). Emotional attention, clarity, and repair: Exploring emotional intelligence using the Trait Meta-Mood Scale. In J. W. Pennebaker (Ed.), Emotion, disclosure, & health (pp. 125–154). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Salovey, P., Stroud, L. R., Woolery, A., & Epel, E. S. (2002). Perceived emotional intelligence, stress reactivity and symptom reports: Further explorations using the Trait Meta Mood Scale. Psychology and Health, 17, 611–627. Schutte, N. S., Malouff, J. M., Thorsteinsson, E. B., Bhullar, N., & Rooke, S. E. (2007). A meta-analytic investigation of the relationship between emotional intelligence and health. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 921–933. Skinner, B. F. (1986). What is wrong with daily life in the western world? American Psychologist, 41, 568–574. Taylor, G. (2001). Low emotional intelligence and mental illness. In J. Ciarrochi, J. P. Forgas, & J. D. Mayer (Eds.), Emotional Intelligence in everyday life: A scientific inquiry (pp. 67–71). Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis. Treynor, W., Gonzalez, R., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2003). Rumination reconsidered: A psychometric analysis. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 27, 247–259. Woolf, H. B. (Ed.). (1981). Webster’s new collegiate dictionary. Springfield, MA: G & C Merriam Company. Zeidner, M., & Olnick-Shemesh, D. (2010). Emotional Intelligence and subjective well-being revisited. Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 431–435.
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Attachment and dysfunctional rumination: The mediating role of Emotional Intelligence abilities Tiziana Lanciano a,⇑, Antonietta Curci a, Konstantinos Kafetsios b, Lucia Elia a, Vanda Lucia Zammuner c a
Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Bari ‘‘A. Moro’’, Italy Department of Psychology, University of Crete, Greece c Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization Processes, University of Padua, Italy b
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 8 February 2012 Received in revised form 12 May 2012 Accepted 21 May 2012 Available online 26 June 2012 Keywords: Attachment style Dysfunctional rumination Emotional Intelligence Emotional processing
a b s t r a c t Integrating theories of attachment and maladaptive rumination, the present study tested the hypothesis that Emotional Intelligence (EI) abilities mediate relationships between insecure adult attachment orientations (Anxiety and Avoidance) and dysfunctional rumination (Brooding and Depression-related). The results showed that attachment anxiety and avoidance were positively associated with brooding and depression-related rumination, and EI abilities mediated these associations. Emotion perception and management abilities partially mediated the relationship of anxious attachment with brooding rumination, and fully mediated the relationship between avoidant attachment and brooding rumination. Using and understanding emotion abilities fully mediated links between anxious and avoidant attachment and depression related rumination. The results highlight the role of emotion-information processing in the adoption of maladaptive rumination in insecure attachment. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction In recent years, research on adult attachment has significantly increased our understanding of the cognitive and emotional processes involved in psychological health and well-being (e.g., Mikulincer & Florian, 2001). A vibrant research literature on adult attachment examines the emotional processes activated when dealing with stressful events, and related depressive reactions. The present study extends this line of research by examining whether links between insecure attachment and dysfunctional rumination are mediated by emotional and cognitive processing associated with Emotional Intelligence (EI) abilities. Dysfunctional rumination is defined as an excessive and maladaptive focus on negative feelings, their causes and consequences; it is a mode of responding to distress that involves repetitively and passively focusing on symptoms of distress and their possible causes and consequences (Lyubomirsky & Nolen-Hoeksema, 1995). Focusing on problems, on depressed mood, and on other components of negative self-experience has maladaptive and dysfunctional consequences (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991). According to Response Styles Theory (RST; Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991), ruminating on negative events increases the influence of negative cognitions on the person’s depressive state, by amplifying ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Bari ‘‘A. Moro’’, Piazza Umberto I 1, 70121 Bari, Italy. Tel.: +39 0805714501. E-mail address: [email protected] (T. Lanciano). 0191-8869/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.05.027
those negative aspects. A maladaptive cycle of negative thinking is thus maintained or even speeded up through this process (e.g., Lyubomirsky & Nolen-Hoeksema, 1995). Brooding and depression-related thoughts are two possible styles of maladaptive rumination (Treynor, Gonzalez, & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2003). Brooding rumination is defined as moody pondering, thinking ‘‘anxiously or gloomily’’ about events (Woolf, 1981, p. 140). Depression-related rumination is seen as a tendency towards developing or maintaining a depressive symptomatology. According to attachment theory and research, dysfunctional rumination is related to adult attachment orientations. Whereas secure attachment is associated with flexible and suitable adjustment to emotional experience, by acknowledging distress and tolerating stressful events without being submerged by them (Cooper, Shaver, & Collins, 1998), attachment anxiety and avoidance are related to psychological distress and ruminative tendencies (e.g., emotional wondering; emotional distance from distress). Individuals high on attachment anxiety typically use hyper-activating strategies to regulate anticipated or felt distress, with the cognitive consequence of being hyper-vigilant towards negative emotion. Several studies have associated anxious attachment with emotion-focused coping (e.g., wishful thinking, selfblame, rumination; Ognibene & Collins, 1998). Individuals high on avoidant attachment, on the other hand, typically use deactivating strategies that limit accessibility to distress. For instance, Berant, Mikulincer, and Florian (2001) found that avoidant mothers at high levels of distress engage in dysfunctional emotion-focused coping. Recently, a handful of studies have established that inse-
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cure attachment is associated with dysfunctional rumination. In particular, Pearson, Watkins, Mullan, and Moberly (2010) found that current levels of depression fully accounted for the relationship between both anxious and avoidant attachment with brooding. Burnette, Taylor, Worthington, and Forsyth (2007) showed that insecure attachment orientations were positively correlated with angry rumination. Saffrey and Ehrenberg (2007) found that anxious persons had higher brooding levels that affected their relationship cognitions. To gain further insight on the associations between insecure attachment and dysfunctional rumination, the present study focused on emotional and cognitive processes that may mediate such associations. We expected that the emotion-information processes reflected in Emotional Intelligence (EI) abilities – i.e., monitoring one’s own and others’ feelings, discriminating among them, and using this information to guide one’s thinking and action (Mayer & Salovey, 1997) – would mediate associations between attachment and dysfunctional rumination. People with high EI scores adapt well to stressful situations, whereas those with low EI adapt poorly, for instance by responding with depression, hopelessness and other dysfunctional strategies (Taylor, 2001). Studies have shown that high self-reported EI can influence responses to emotional arousal, and consequently play a role in promoting mental health (Gohm & Clore, 2002), and engaging in active emotional strategies (Fernández-Berrocal & Ramos, 2002). Higher levels of self-reported EI are also related to adaptive physiological and psychological strategies, such as low levels of intrusive thoughts (Ramos, Fernández-Berrocal, & Extremera, 2007; Salovey, Bedell, Detweiler, & Mayer, 1999; Salovey, Mayer, Goldman, Turvey, & Palfai, 1995), higher levels of distraction (Salovey, Stroud, Woolery, & Epel, 2002) and lower depression (Fernández-Berrocal, Salovey, Vera, Extremera, and Ramos, 2005). Research on the relationships between emotional processes involved in EI abilities and well-being outcomes has however provided somewhat controversial results too (Extremera, FernándezBerrocal, Ruiz-Aranda, & Cabello, 2006; Goldenberg, Matheson, & Mantler, 2006; Zeidner & Olnick-Shemesh, 2010). On the one hand, EI abilities seem associated with successful ways of dealing with emotional issues, such as by reducing rumination following an emotional experience (Lanciano, Curci, & Zatton, 2010). Likewise, individuals with mental disorders were found to be characterized by low levels of the EI abilities of understanding and regulating emotion (Hertel, Schütz, & Lammers, 2009). On the other hand, the relationship between high EI abilities and low depression has been found to be mediated by gender (Salguero, Extremera, & Fernández-Berrocal, in press). Moreover, EI seems to be associated with psychological well being more strongly when it is measured as a trait rather than as an ability (Goldenberg et al., 2006; Martins, Ramalho, & Morin, 2010; Schutte, Malouff, Thorsteinsson, Bhullar, & Rooke, 2007). Finally, whereas several studies have examined cognitive and emotional facets of adult attachment organization, little research has directly investigated the relationship between attachment orientations and EI abilities (Kafetsios, 2004; Kim, 2005). Available evidence indicates that secure individuals are relatively accurate in perceiving facial expressions of negative emotions, whereas avoidant individuals have low emotion-decoding accuracy scores (Magai, Distel, & Liker, 1995). Additionally, secure individuals are less threatened by potentially distressing information; they can label, experience, and express felt emotions; when under stress, they seek support as an emotion regulation strategy, and use adaptive and functional strategies (e.g., Larose, Bernier, Soucy, & Duchesne, 1999). Conversely, anxious-preoccupied individuals exhibit ready access to painful memories and a paradoxical cognitive closure in response to positive affect induction. Finally, avoidant individuals exhibit defensive exclusion of painful thoughts and memories.
1.1. Hypotheses Based on the theoretical accounts and empirical findings reported above, we expected that: H1. Attachment anxiety and avoidance will be positively associated with dysfunctional rumination. H2. EI abilities will be negatively related to insecure attachment and dysfunctional rumination. H3. Higher EI abilities will mediate associations between insecure attachment and dysfunctional rumination. As EI is conceived as comprising four abilities, we hypothesized a mediating role of all four EI abilities. 2. Methods 2.1. Participants The sample comprised 157 female undergraduate students from a large state University in Italy (Mage = 19.60; SD = 2.04). Participation in the study was voluntary. 2.2. Measures 2.2.1. Adult attachment orientations The Relationship Questionnaire (RQ; Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991) was used to assess attachment orientations. It comprises a brief-sentence prototypical-description of each of four adult attachment orientations, i.e., secure, fearful, preoccupied, dismissing; e.g., ‘‘I am comfortable without close emotional relationships. It is very important to me to feel independent and self-sufficient, and I prefer not to depend on others or have others depend on me’’. The four orientations are rated on a seven-point scale. Following Griffin and Bartholomew (1994), the four adult attachment prototypes were converted into two dimensions representing attachment anxiety and avoidance. The anxiety dimension was computed by subtracting the sum of secure and dismissing scores from the sum of fearful and preoccupied scores. The avoidance dimension resulted from subtracting the sum of secure and preoccupied scores from the sum of fearful and dismissing scores. 2.2.2. Ruminative style The Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS) was used to assess the tendency to engage in dysfunctional rumination focused on sad or depressive feelings. It is formed by twenty-two items (1 = never; 4 = always) averaged into three composite indices (Treynor et al., 2003): Brooding (e.g. ‘‘Think ‘Why do I always react this way?’’’; Cronbach’s a = .80), Depression-related rumination (e.g. ‘‘Think about how sad you feel’’; Cronbach’s a = .76), and Reflection (e.g. ‘‘Write down what you are thinking and analyze it’’; Cronbach’s a = .67). Given the aim of the study, only the first two were considered for subsequent analyses. 2.2.3. EI abilities EI abilities were assessed by the Italian version of the Mayer Salovey Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT; D’Amico and Curci, 2011; Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2002). MSCEIT has eight tasks (141 items), presented in multiple-choice format, which provide a total EI assessment score and four branch scores: (a) Perceiving (assessment of the emotional content of faces, images, and pictures); (b) Using (knowledge about how different emotions can be effective in problem solving processes); (c) Understanding (knowledge of how emotions combine and change); and (d) Managing (effectiveness of different actions in achieving a specified emotional outcome involving oneself and others). MSCEIT scores were attributed by the Consensus scoring method, i.e., based on
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what the majority of respondents in the Italian normative sample selected as correct from the emotional point of view (Curci & D’Amico, 2011). 2.3. Procedure Students were recruited during a psychology class and requested to individually fill in the MSCEIT in a laboratory room. One week later, all participants were asked to fill in the attachment and dysfunctional rumination measures. 3. Results 3.1. Preliminary analyses Average ratings and zero-order correlations among attachment orientations, dysfunctional rumination, and EI scores are reported in Table 1. As regards rumination, Brooding scores did not differ from Depression-related scores (t(156) = 1.13, n.s.). Basic statistics for the four branches of EI were consistent with most published data (Kafetsios, 2004; Mayer et al., 2002). Attachment Anxiety and Avoidance were positively associated with both dysfunctional rumination indicators, whereas they negatively correlated with the branch scores. Further, the branch scores were negatively correlated with scores of Brooding and Depression-related ruminative styles.
the link between anxiety and brooding. Nevertheless, the Perceiving and Managing abilities partially mediated the relationship of Anxious attachment with Brooding: Anxious attachment was still a significant (albeit reduced) predictor of brooding in the mediation model. Second, we tested the effects of the EI branches in mediating the association of attachment Avoidance and Brooding (see Table 3). The Perceiving and Managing abilities fully mediated the link between Avoidance and Brooding: Attachment avoidance was associated with low abilities in perceiving and managing emotions; these low EI scores in turn increased reliance upon brooding. Third, we tested the indirect effect of attachment Anxiety on Depression-related rumination via EI abilities (see Table 4). The abilities of Using and Understanding emotions fully mediated associations between attachment Anxiety and Depression-related rumination: Anxious individuals’ lower abilities in using and understanding emotions increased their reliance upon depression-related rumination. Fourth, we tested the mediating role of EI abilities on the relationship between attachment avoidance and depression-related rumination (see Table 5). The abilities of Using and Understanding emotions fully mediated the associations between Avoidance and Depression-related rumination: Avoidant individuals’ lower abilities in using and understanding emotions increased their reliance upon depression-related rumination.
4. Discussion 3.2. EI abilities as a mediator between adult attachment and dysfunctional rumination To test whether EI abilities mediate attachment effects on dysfunctional rumination, we applied a parallel multiple mediator model (Preacher & Hayes, 2008) through the PROCESS SPSS computational tool (Hayes, 2012). Figure 1 shows the theoretical mediation model. Given the limited sample size, and to prevent violation of normal distribution assumptions, the non-parametric bootstrapping method was used as a robust estimation of both direct and indirect effects (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). Bootstrapping provided a confidence interval (CI) around the indirect effect of the independent variable (insecure attachment) on the dependent variable (dysfunctional rumination) via the mediators (the four EI abilities). Multiple mediations are significant if the interval between the upper limit (UL) and lower limit (LL) of a bootstrapped 95% CI do not contain zero, which means that the mediating effect is different from zero (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). First, we tested whether the four EI abilities mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and brooding rumination (see Table 2). None of the EI abilities appeared to fully mediate
The present study examined relationships between insecure adult attachment orientations and dysfunctional rumination, and tested whether emotion-information processing, as reflected in participants’ performance in tasks measuring EI abilities, mediate those relationships. The results showed a strong relationship of dysfunctional rumination with both anxious and avoidant attachment orientations, suggesting that such orientations are associated with a diminished ability to deal with emotional troubles (Burnette et al., 2007; Ciechanowski, Walker, Katon, & Russo, 2002). Indeed, as Mikulincer and Shaver (2008) showed, insecure individuals perceive themselves as helpless in controlling the self, by amplifying painful thoughts and feelings. When regulating their emotions, anxious and avoidant individuals reject emotion-related thoughts and memories in order to either avoid emotion-related action tendencies, or inhibit both verbal and nonverbal expressions of emotion (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2008). Our results furthermore showed significant associations between EI abilities and dysfunctional rumination, supporting previous (albeit limited) evidence on the importance of individual differences in emotion-information processing for well-being
Table 1 Correlation coefficients among measures of attachment orientations, dysfunctional rumination, and Emotional Intelligence (EI).
Adult attachment Dysfunctional rumination EI
Mean (SD)
* **
p < 0.05. p < 0.001.
Avoidance Brooding Depression Perceiving Using Understanding Managing
Adult attachment
Dysfunctional rumination
EI
Anxiety
Avoidance
Brooding
Depression
Perceiving
Using
Understanding
Managing
.502** .334** .245** .224** .201* .178* .269** 1.45 (4.52)
.326** .266** .327** .287** .347** .331** 1.55 (4.46)
.454** .594** .538** .349** .560** 2.29 (.06)
.371** .430** .401** .344** 2.35 (.66)
.642** .480** .563** 108.67 (14.61)
.340** .582** 109.64 (13.66)
.455** 110.96 (13.95)
104.92 (15.02)
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a1
b1 Perceiving
a2
b2 Using
a3
b3 Understanding
a4
b4 Managing
c’ Dysfunctional Rumination
Adult Attachment
Fig. 1. The theoretical mediation model for the direct (c0 ) and the indirect effect (sum of all a b) of adult attachment on dysfunctional rumination.
Table 2 Summary of multiple mediation analyses on anxiety attachment and brooding rumination (5000 bootstraps). Independent variable IV Anxiety
* **
Mediators M
Dependent variable DV
Perceiving Brooding Using Understanding Managing
Effect of IV on M (a) .74 .61 .65 .89
**
(SE = .26) (SE = .24)* (SE = .24)* (SE = .26)**
Effect of M on DV
Direct effect
Indirect effect
Total effect
(b)
(c0 )
(a b) 95% CI
(c)
.009* .004 .000 .008*
.044 (SE = .01)**
.013 .007 .000 .010
**
(SE = .003) .022 (SE = .008)** (SE = .003) (SE = .003) (SE = .003)**
(.003–.018) (.000–.010) (.002 to .003) (.003–.017)
p < .05. p < .001.
Table 3 Summary of multiple mediation analyses on avoidance attachment and brooding rumination (5000 bootstraps).
* **
Independent variable
Mediators
Dependent variable
Effect of IV on M
Effect of M on DV
Direct effect
Indirect effect
Total effect
IV
M
DV
(a)
(b)
(c0 )
(a b)
95% CI
(c)
Avoidance
Perceiving Using Understanding Managing
Brooding
1.09 (SE = .25)** .87 (SE = .23)** 1.08 (SE = .24)** 1.11 (SE = .25)**
.013 (SE = .003)** .007 (SE = .003) .000 (SE = .003) .010 (SE = .003)**
.012 (SE = .009)
.014* .006 .004 .023*
(.006–.024) (.000–.013) (.006 to .014) (.006–.021)
.044 (SE = .01)**
p < .05. p < .001.
Table 4 Summary of multiple mediation analyses on anxiety attachment and depressive-related rumination (5000 bootstraps).
* **
Independent variable
Mediators
Dependent variable
Effect of IV on M
Effect of M on DV
Direct effect
Indirect effect
Total effect
IV
M
DV
(a)
(b)
(c0 )
(a b)
95% CI
(c)
Anxiety
Perceiving Using Understanding Managing
Depressive-related
.74 .61 .65 .89
.019 (SE = .01)
.000 .008* .006* .000
(.005 to .007) (.003–.018) (.002–.014) (.006 to .006)
.036 (SE = .01)⁄⁄
(SE = .26)** (SE = .24)* (SE = .24)* (SE = .26)**
.001 .014 .012 .000
(SE = .004) (SE = .004)** (SE = .003)** (SE = .004)
p < .05. p < .001.
Table 5 Summary of multiple mediation analyses on avoidance attachment and depressive-related rumination (5000 bootstraps).
* **
Independent variable
Mediators
Dependent variable
Effect of IV on M
Effect of M on DV
Direct effect
Indirect effect
Total effect
IV
M
DV
(a)
(b)
(c0 )
(a b)
95% CI
(c)
Avoidance
Perceiving Using Understanding Managing
Depressive-related
1.09 (SE = .25)** .87 (SE = .23)** 1.08 (SE = .24)** 1.11 (SE = .25)**
.001 .014 .012 .000
.012 (SE = .01)
.001 .012* .013* .000
(.007 to .011) (.005–.024) (.006–.023) (.007 to .009)
.039 (SE = .01)**
p < .05. p < .001
(SE = .004) (SE = .004)** (SE = .003)** (SE = .004)
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(Lanciano et al., 2010). The present findings thus indicate that EI measured as an ability can predict mental health, supporting previous evidence on the predictive validity of the MSCEIT as regards psychological well-being, depressive symptoms and anxiety (Brackett & Salovey, 2006) – but the lack of a self-reported EI measure in our study does not permit a direct comparison of the extent to which trait and ability EI models can explain the tested relationships. Our results, furthermore, contradict recent findings that EI is associated with well-being in males, but not in females (Salguero et al., in press; Brackett, Mayer, & Warner, 2004; Brackett, Rivers, Shiffman, Lerner, & Salovey, 2006; Lishner, Swin, Hong, & Vitacco, 2011) – but our study could not directly test gender differences as it included women only. Additionally, we examined the relationship between EI abilities and ruminative tendencies associated with depressive outcomes in undergraduate students only, whereas previous investigations mainly focused on depressive responses of adults. Therefore, the discrepancy between our results and previously obtained ones might be a function of differences both in participants’ sampling, and in the EI employed measures. Our study found that EI abilities mediate insecure attachment relationships with dysfunctional rumination. Higher levels of anxious and avoidant attachment were significantly associated with lower abilities of perceiving and managing emotions, increasing in turn adoption of brooding rumination. This result is consistent with previous evidence that showed insecure attachment to be related to both emotion decoding inability (Kafetsios, 2004; Magai et al., 1995), and emotion regulation helplessness (Kobak & Sceery, 1988), dysfunctional rumination to be associated with a difficulty in expressing and identifying emotions (Ciarrochi, Scott, Deane, & Heaven, 2003), and rumination to be highly affected by the ability to process emotional information (Lanciano et al., 2010). Jointly considered, the available findings suggest that rumination – an emotion regulation strategy – is strictly related to inability to appraise, express, and monitor emotions, whereas the strategy of directing thoughts away from negative emotions might be expected of people who are the emotionally intelligent (Salovey et al., 1999). Individuals differ in their ability to employ their own and others’ emotions in a variety of processes – e.g., problem solving, flexible planning, creative thinking, mood redirected attention, reasoning with emotion, motivating persistence in challenging tasks (Mayer & Salovey, 1997). An inability in using emotion-related information may cause health problems – e.g., a deficit in flexible planning following an emotional trouble may lead to depression (Skinner, 1986). Additionally, on the one hand considerable evidence links lower problem solving abilities with mental health problems (Elliott, Herrick, MacNair, & Harkins, 1994; Elliott & Marmarosh, 1994); on the other hand, self-reported EI moderates the relationship between stress and mental health – in terms of depression, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation (Ciarrochi, Deane, & Anderson, 2002). In our study, the effects of insecure attachment anxiety and avoidance on depression-related ruminative strategies were mediated by lower abilities of using and understanding emotion. Our results thus indicate that depressive rumination is associated in insecure people with the inability to use, and reason with, emotions, suggesting that anxious and avoidant individuals face serious resource limitations in emotion processing, with rumination contributing to a downward spiral of negativity. In other words, insecure people are unable to work through emotional problems and look for a solution, limitations that easily result in their developing depressive symptoms. A strong point of the present study was the use of a performance test of EI in association with attachment and dysfunctional rumination, thereby overcoming limits inherent in self-reported EI measures. Our results thus add information on how emotional pro-
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cessing is related to dysfunctional rumination and adult attachment from an individual differences perspective. Our study is not however without limitations. First, because only female participants were assessed, the strong association we found among the constructs may be due to women’s increased incidence in rumination processes (Butler & Nolen-Hoeksema, 1994) and to their higher EI ability levels (Brackett et al., 2004; Kafetsios, 2004). Second, although frequently employed in adult attachment research, our measure of attachment suffers from known limitations of a psychometric nature. Third, an exhaustive explanation of the mediated link between attachment and dysfunctional rumination would have required testing a complex model that included both attachment predictors and rumination outcomes, a test that the limited sample size of our study did not allow us to do. In sum, further studies are necessary to validate our results on the addressed topic – e.g., using larger gender and age-balanced samples, more elaborate measures of adult attachment, and possibly a longitudinal research design that would allow testing for developmental effects on emotion processing. 5. Conclusion The study provided evidence for the different role of emotioninformation processing reflected in EI abilities – perceiving and managing vs. using and understanding – on the link between insecure adult attachment orientations and, respectively, brooding and depressive rumination. References Bartholomew, K., & Horowitz, L. M. (1991). Attachment styles among young adults: A test of a four-category model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 226–244. Berant, E., Mikulincer, M., & Florian, V. (2001). The association of mothers’ attachment style and their reactions to the diagnosis of infant’s congenital heart disease. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 20, 208–232. Brackett, M. A., Mayer, J. D., & Warner, R. M. (2004). Emotional intelligence and its relation to everyday behaviour. Personality and Individual Differences, 36, 1387–1402. Brackett, M. A., Rivers, S. E., Shiffman, S., Lerner, N., & Salovey, P. (2006). Relating emotional abilities to social functioning: A comparison of self-report and performance measures of Emotional Intelligence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 780–795. Brackett, M. A., & Salovey, P. (2006). Measuring emotional intelligence with the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). Psicothema, 18, 34–41. Burnette, J. L., Taylor, K. W., Worthington, E. L., & Forsyth, D. R. (2007). Attachment and trait forgivingness: The mediating role of angry rumination. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 1585–1596. Butler, L. D., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1994). Gender differences in responses to depressed mood in a college sample. Sex Roles, 30, 331–346. Ciarrochi, J., Deane, F., & Anderson, S. (2002). Emotional intelligence moderates the relationship between stress and mental health. Personality and Individual Differences, 32, 197–209. Ciarrochi, J., Scott, G., Deane, F. P., & Heaven, P. C. L. (2003). Relations between social and emotional competence and mental health: A construct validation study. Personality and Individual Differences, 35, 1947–1963. Ciechanowski, P. S., Walker, E. A., Katon, W. J., & Russo, J. E. (2002). Attachment theory: A model of health care utilization and somatization. Psychosomatic Medicine, 64, 660–667. Cooper, M. L., Shaver, P. R., & Collins, N. L. (1998). Attachment styles, emotion regulation, and adjustment in adolescence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1380–1397. Curci, A., & D’Amico, A. (2011). Taratura italiana del Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). Firenze: O.S.. D’Amico, A., & Curci, A. (2011). Traduzione ed adattamento italiano del MayerSalovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). Firenze: O.S.. Elliott, T. R., Herrick, S. M., MacNair, R. R., & Harkins, S. W. (1994). Personality correlates of self-appraised problem solving ability: Problem orientation and trait affectivity. Journal of Personality Assessment, 63, 489–505. Elliott, T. R., & Marmarosh, C. L. (1994). Problem-solving appraisal, health complaints, and health-related expectancies. Journal of Counseling & Development, 72, 531–537. Extremera, N., Fernández-Berrocal, P., Ruiz-Aranda, D., & Cabello, R. (2006). Emotional intelligence, response styles and depression. Ansiedad y Estrés, 12, 191–205. Fernández-Berrocal, P., & Ramos, N. (2002). Corazones inteligentes. Barcelona: Kairos.
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