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What is the AAI Really Capturing? Long -term Links With Emotion Regulation, Peer and Parent Relations, & Psychological Functioning Joe Allen Nell Manning University of Virginia. Farah Williams, Ph.D. David Szwedo Jill Antonishak , Ph.D . Joanna Chango Caroline White . Elie Hessel

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  1. What is the AAI Really Capturing? Long-term Links With Emotion Regulation, Peer and Parent Relations, & Psychological FunctioningJoe AllenNell ManningUniversity of Virginia Farah Williams, Ph.D. David Szwedo Jill Antonishak, Ph.D. Joanna Chango Caroline White ElieHessel Emily Marston, Ph.D. Glenda Insabella, Ph.D. Erin Miga, Ph.D. Amanda Hare, Ph.D. Collaborators: Maryfrances Porter, Ph.D. Kathleen McElhaney, Ph.D. F. Christy McFarland, Ph.D. Megan Schad Ann Spilker Copies of related papers are available at:WWW.TEENRESEARCH.ORG

  2. Overarching Question • Just what is the AAI actually measuring? • A thought experiment

  3. Key Premises • The AAI is NOT primarily capturing: • Qualities of past attachment relationships • Memories of past relationships (working models) • Qualities of current attachment relationships • The Strongest Validity data with the AAI shows that it predicts Caregiving behavior (with infant offspring), not attachment behavior.

  4. Overarching Question • Just what is the AAI actually capturing? • The Case for Emotion Regulation Capacities • The AAI is coded to capture: • Coherence in dealing with emotions generated in recalling attachment experiences. • Autonomy in thinking about emotionally-charged experiences. • Valuing of attachment: acknowledgement of attachment-related emotions. • These seem like key aspects of social-emotion regulation.

  5. Attachment Measures on the Emotion Regulation Continuum Tightest Focus on Attachment- Specific Behavior Broadest Focus on Emotion Regulation Emotion Regulation in Adolescent- Parent Interactions Emotion Regulation in Adolescent- Peer Interactions Infant Strange- Situation Regulated, Security-Producing Caregiving How correlated are these measures with the AAI? Least Correlated with AAI Most Correlated with AAI The AAI is most strongly correlated with measures of Emotion Regulation and least strongly with more direct measures of attachment.

  6. Primary Questions 1. To what extent is AAI-Security/Autonomy linked to measures of Emotion Regulation? 2. How does the AAI compare to measures of Emotion Regulation in predicting: • Qualities of Social Relationships • Depressive Symptoms • Career Satisfaction and Life Success in Young Adulthood 3. Can developmental changes help us understand the Security/Emotion Regulation connection?

  7. Sample • 184 Adolescents, their Parents, Best Friends, and Other Friends • Intensive Interviews and Observations with all parties (Total N over first 12 years ~ 1700). • Equal numbers of Males and Females • Socio-economically Diverse (Median Family Income= $40- $60K) • 31% African American; 69% European American • Very Low Attrition (98% participation rate in current phase)

  8. Attachment Security/Autonomy • Coded from Adult Attachment Interview • Administered at age 14-15 • Coded using Kobak Q-sort • Prior research shows good correspondence of security meta-scale to formal AAI classifications. • Emphasis on Coherence • Emphasis on being “Autonomous, Yet Valuing of Attachment”

  9. Broad Emotion Regulation • Emotion Regulation = • Resilience in handling emotions + Paying Attention to Them • Peer-ratedEgo Resiliency Scale(Block & Kremen, 1996) (14 items) • …gets over his anger at someone reasonably quickly • …is more curious than most people • Attention to Emotionsfrom Trait Meta Mood Scale (Salovey et al., 1994) (14 items) • I often think about my feelings • (-) It is usually a waste of time to think about your emotions

  10. Emotion Regulation Measures: Mood Repair • Mood Repair from Trait Meta Mood Scale (Salovey et al., 1994) • No matter how badly I feel, I try to think about pleasant things • (-)When I am upset, I realize that “the good things in life” are illusions.

  11. Security and Emotion Regulation Simple Intercorrelations AAI Security (15) .31*** .27*** Mood Repair (15-17) Emotion Regulation (15-18) .39***

  12. Popularity • Sociometric Procedure: • Peers nominate others “Who would you most like to spend time with on a Saturday evening.” 10 names • For our target teens, we count how many times they were listed on someone’s “like” list as a marker of popularity. • Each teen rated by other teens in the same grade in school (approximately 125 raters for each teen). • 1 year test-retest stability r = .77

  13. Links to Popularity at 13(Correlations) Ages 15-18 Popularity AAI Security .31*** .29*** Emotion Regulation Mood Repair .19***

  14. Links to Popularity at 13(Regression) Ages 15-18 Popularity AAI Security .16* .21** Emotion Regulation Gender & Income R2 = .22***; Multiple R = .47*** Mood Repair .04 At Age 13: AAI Security and Emotion Regulation both Predict Popularity

  15. Predicting Popularity Over Time Increasing Relation of AAI-Security to Popularity Over Time AAI Decreasing Relation of Emotion Regulation to Popularity Over Time Emotion Regulation

  16. Summary: Predicting Popularity • A Developmental Pattern • AAI & Emotion Regulation start out as equal predictors • Over Time: • AAI Security grows stronger as a predictor • Emotion Regulation grows weaker • Parallels increasing intensity of adolescent peer relationships.

  17. Autonomy & Relatedness in Romantic Partner Interactions • Coded from 8-minute interaction with romantic partner of at least 3 months duration • Age 18: Hypothetical court ‘Dating Court’ (N=66) • E.g., James … has Saturday night off and his friends are planning a “boys night out” … Leslie thinks James should spend his night off with her… • Age 21: Actual previously-identified disagreement (N=66)

  18. Predicting Observed Autonomy in Romantic Disagreement Ages 15-18 Age 18 Autonomy AAI Security .44*** -.10 Emotion Regulation Gender & Income R2 = .20***; Multiple R = .45*** Mood Repair .12 At 18: AAI – Security Best Predicts Autonomy while Disagreeing

  19. Predicting Observed Connection in Romantic Disagreement Ages 15-18 Age 18 Connection (Age 18) AAI Security .17 .47*** Emotion Regulation Gender & Income R2 = .30***; Multiple R = .55*** Mood Repair .00 At 18: Emotion Regulation Best Predicts Connection while Disagreeing

  20. Predicting Observed Autonomy & Connection in Romantic Disagreement Ages 15-18 Age 21 Autonomy AAI Security .35*** -.05 Emotion Regulation Gender & Income R2 = .10***; Multiple R = .32*** Mood Repair -.10 At 21: AAI – Security best predicts both Autonomy … And…

  21. Predicting Observed Connection in Romantic Disagreement Ages 15-18 Age 21 Connection AAI Security .24* .00 Emotion Regulation Gender & Income Mood Repair .14 At 21: AAI Security also predicts Connection while Disagreeing

  22. Summary: Predicting Romantic Relationship Quality • AAI Security/Autonomy was always the best predictor of Autonomous Behaviors in Disagreements • A Developmental Pattern with Connecting Behaviors • At 18, Emotion regulation was the strongest predictor • By 21, AAI Security was the strongest predictor • AAI Security may become more broadly relevant as relationships take on more attachment functions.

  23. Depressive Symptoms • Childhood Depression Inventory (Kovacs & Beck, 1977)27-item inventory based on the Beck Depression Inventory

  24. Predicting Depressive Symptoms at 13(Correlations) Ages 15-18 Depressive Symptoms AAI Security -.25*** -.21** Emotion Regulation Mood Repair -.21**

  25. Predicting Depressive Symptoms at 13(Regression) Ages 15-18 Depressive Symptoms AAI Security .-18* -.12 Emotion Regulation Gender & Income R2 = .11***; Multiple R = .34*** Mood Repair .14+ AAI – Security/Autonomy is best overall predictor of Depressive Symptoms at 13

  26. Strength of Relationship of Insecurity and Poor Mood Repair to Depressive Symptoms Over Time Increasing Relation of Mood Repair to Depressive Symptoms Over Time Mood Repair AAI Decreasing Relation of AAI Security to Depressive Symptoms Over Time

  27. Summary: Predicting Depression • A Developmental Pattern: • Both AAI Security and Mood Repair start out strongly related to depressive symptoms at age 13 • Over time, AAI Security fades as a predictor and Mood Repair becomes more important • Managing Negative Affect may be linked to attachment in early adolescence (when parents are still key), • But becomes more related to internalized mood repair strategies as adolescence progresses

  28. Career Satisfaction at Age 24 • 5-item measure of satisfaction with progress toward meeting career goals (Greenhaus, Parasuraman, & Wormley, 1990)

  29. Predicting Career Satisfaction at 24(Simple Correlations) Age 24 Ages 15-18 Career Satisfaction AAI Security .17* .20** Emotion Regulation Mood Repair .17* All measures are predictive of future Career Satisfaction

  30. Predicting Career Satisfaction at 24(Regression) Age 24 Ages 15-18 Career Satisfaction AAI Security .05 .18* Emotion Regulation Gender & Income R2 = .11**; Multiple R = .33** Mood Repair -.04 Emotion Regulation fares best in multiple regression

  31. Overall Successful Adjustment at 23(Parent-rated) • Combination of Scales from Young Adult Adjustment Scale (Capaldi & King, 1992). Including items sampling: • Positive Peer Relations • Academic/Professional Ambition • Happiness • Prosocial Behavior • Overall success

  32. Predicting Parent-rated Success at 23(Correlations) Age 23 Ages 15-18 Overall Success AAI Security .20* .23** Emotion Regulation Gender & Income R2 = .11**; Multiple R = .33** Mood Repair .17* All measures are predictive of future Overall Success

  33. Predicting Parent-rated Success at 23(Regression) Age 23 Ages 15-18 Overall Success AAI Security .10 .24** Emotion Regulation Gender & Income R2 = .22***; Multiple R = .11** Mood Repair .01 Emotion Regulation fares best in multiple regression

  34. Summary: Predicting Broad Young Adult Functional Outcomes • Beyond close relationship functioning: • Emotion Regulation and AAI Security Overlap in their Predictions • Emotion Regulation capacities appear as the best overall predictor of broad functional outcomes

  35. Limitations • Multiple measures of Emotion Regulation Processes Exist – Only 2 were examined • Analyses assume that AAI Security and Emotion Processes were stable over time • (Likely for AAI, less clear for Emotion Regulation) • We’re addressing the AAI – Emotion Regulation question in only one, quite unique, developmental span (ages 14-24). Copies of this and related papers are available at:www.TeenResearch.org

  36. Conclusions • AAI Security is clearly closely linked to Emotion Regulation and Mood Repair • Substantial Intercorrelations • Many similar predictions/correlates • These predictions are often overlapping • Evidence that AAI Security is capturing same variance as Emotion Regulation processes • But these constructs are not identical… Copies of this and related papers are available at:www.TeenResearch.org

  37. Conclusions • Clear Domains where AAI Security predicts things that traditional Emotion Regulation measures do not (e.g., more intense relationships) and vice versa • Two Possible Explanations: • AAI Security may capture an aspect of Emotion Regulation linked to social relations • AAI may be capturing something different (a quality of working models? Perspective-taking capacity?) Copies of this and related papers are available at:www.TeenResearch.org

  38. Conclusions • AAI Security: • Not just the attachment system grown up…

  39. Conclusions • AAI Security: • Not just the attachment system grown up… • BUT what the attachment systemgrows INTO.

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