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Common and Distinct Correlates of Depression, Anxiety, and Aggression: Attachment and Emotion Regulation of Sadness and Anger

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Abstract

Drawing from attachment and emotion theories, we tested a model whereby emerging adults’ anxious and avoidant attachment would have specific associations with dysregulation and suppression of sadness and anger and would be unique correlates of emotional and behavioral problems. Participants were 383 (47% men) students between 16 and 23 years (M = 19.6, SD = 1.58) who completed a questionnaire to assess attachment, emotion dysregulation and suppression, depressive and social anxiety symptoms, and aggressive behavior. In a path model, greater anxious attachment was associated with more emotion dysregulation, whereas greater avoidant attachment was associated with greater emotion suppression. Greater sadness dysregulation was uniquely and significantly associated with depression and social anxiety but not aggression, whereas greater anger dysregulation was associated with aggressive behavior but not depression and anxiety. Also, participants with elevated attachment insecurities reported heightened emotional and behavioral problems. Anxious attachment had the most pervasive impact on all forms of symptoms, either directly or indirectly via emotion dysregulation. Yet, there was also evidence that a focus on regulation of sadness, relative to anger, identified unique links with depression and social anxiety, relative to aggressive behavior.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Shawna Campbell for her assistance with data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Parklands Dr, G40_7.86, Southport, QLD, 4222, Australia

    Sarah J. Clear, Alex A. Gardner, Haley J. Webb & Melanie J. Zimmer-Gembeck

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  1. Sarah J. Clear
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  2. Alex A. Gardner
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  4. Melanie J. Zimmer-Gembeck
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Contributions

S.C. conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, conducted data collection, interpreted the data, and drafted the manuscript; A.G. drafted the manuscript and critically revised the manuscript; H.W. performed the statistical analysis and helped draft the manuscript. M.Z.G. was the overall supervisor of the project, conceived of the study, performed the statistical analysis and interpretation of the data, and drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sarah J. Clear.

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Clear, S.J., Gardner, A.A., Webb, H.J. et al. Common and Distinct Correlates of Depression, Anxiety, and Aggression: Attachment and Emotion Regulation of Sadness and Anger. J Adult Dev 27, 181–191 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-019-09333-0

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