Attention-Related Problems, Personality, and Adult Attachment Anxiety and Avoidance

The current study examines relations among individual differences in attention and attention-related problems, effortful control, and adult attachments with parents and peers. We examined two prominent hypotheses in the literature. The strategic avoidance hypothesis proposes that a lifelong pattern of using attentional avoidance to reduce attachment anxiety may lead to improved attentional abilities later in life (Mikulincer et al., 2003). The maladaptive development hypothesis suggests that atypical early attachment formation may result in long-term impairments in the attentional networks co-developing during infancy (based on Clarke et al., 2002; Ruff & Rothbart, 1996). A sample of 110 undergraduates completed a battery of computer-based behavioral measures of attention (i.e., Conners Continuous Performance Task) and self-report measures of attention problems, personality, and adult attachment. Attachment anxiety was correlated with self-report measures of attention-related difficulties with everyday tasks, providing support for the maladaptive development hypothesis. Attachment anxiety (but not avoidance) was also linked with personality traits related to effortful control (i.e., conscientiousness and ego control). Hierarchical linear regression analyses suggested that attachment anxiety moderated the relation between effortful control and attention-related difficulties with everyday tasks. The association among attachment, attention, and effortful control extends into early adulthood and varies across attachment relations. The current findings suggest that these systems may interact to facilitate emotion regulation and social functioning during early adulthood.