Adult romantic attachment in young people in suicidal and non-suicidal states

Adult romantic attachment is a development of the child-parent attachment system, which makes an important input to the experience of psychological well-being. On the contrary, an impairment of attachment system in childhood or in adulthood may become a vulnerability factor and contribute to the development of suicidal tendencies. Study objective: construct validity testing of the Russian version of the Experience in Close Relationship – Revised Short Form (ECR-R SF) scale in a normative sample, and comparison of the normative and suicidal samples, in order to specify the problematic elements of attachment system. Participants: Control group: 144 students, aged 17-36 (M = 20.11, SD = 2.82), 112 females, 32 males. Comparison group: 110 suicidal patients, aged 16-25 (M = 20.32, SD = 2.37), 80 females, 30 males. Instruments: The control group, apart from the ECR-R SF, filled in Rosenberg‘s Self-Esteem Scale, Multidimensional Inventory of Loneliness Experience and Subjective Alienation Questionnaire for Students. The comparison group filled in Self-Compassion Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Past Positive and Past Negative subscales from Zimbardo Time-Perspective Inventory, as well as Almost Perfect Scale and Psychache Scale. Results: The control group showed significant correlations between anxious attachment, self-esteem and alienation, which manifested both in partial correlations (r= -.44, p < .001 – self-esteem, r= .43, p< .001 – general alienation), and in mediation models. Avoidant attachment correlated with loneliness (r= .26, p< .01) and, to a lesser degree, with alienation (r= .22, p < .01). The comparison group showed a higher level of anxious adult romantic attachment (t(252)= – 6.115, p< .001, CI (-1.36; -.70), Cohen‘s d= .767). But the correlation analysis in the suicidal group revealed that both anxious and avoidant attachment demonstrate significant relations with protective and risk factors. Anxious style was linked to negative emotionality (Self-Isolation and Over-Identification subscales, r= .25, p< .01, and Past Negative, r = .37, p< .001). Avoidant style correlated with Perceived Social Support from Significant Other (r= -.23, p< .05) and Psychache Scale (r= .28, p< .01). Conclusion: The construct validity of the scale was confirmed, it was shown that anxiety in romantic attachment in young people is manifested due to the negative model of the self (low self-esteem) and is revealed in alienation from various spheres of life. As expected, avoidant attachment coincided with a lesser psychological ill-being, which is probably due to the negative model of the others. In suicidal patients anxious attachment was expressed more acutely and correlated with negative emotionality, though avoidant attachment was also linked to the factors of suicidal risk. This allows us to specify two types of suicidality, which are based on dissatisfaction with the self (anxious type) and with the others (avoidant type).