AVOIDING DISCLOSURE? A STUDY OF ATTACHMENT ORIENTATIONS AND DAILY SOCIAL BEHAVIORS FOLLOWING MARITAL SEPARATION

Abstract

In this honors thesis study, I examined the relationship between attachment avoidance, emotional disclosure, and separation-related psychological distress among recently divorced persons. Emotional disclosure is an important mechanism of support for securely attached individuals when coping with divorce, however its role as a coping mechanism for avoidantly attached adults is not well understood. Using the Electronic Activated Recorder (EAR), the study was able to naturalistically observe daily interactions to capture emotional disclosure in conversations. I hypothesized that participants who evidenced greater use of self-disclosure will show improved levels of separation-related psychological distress (SRPD). I also hypothesized people who report high avoidance and show greater within-person levels of emotional disclosure will also report higher SRPD. The hypotheses of this study were analyzed using multilevel growth modeling. Although the present study did not find significant support for the hypotheses, an exploratory study revealed that there is correlation between the separation- related psychological distress and gender, and between the separation- related psychological distress and the length of the relationship that may guide future research.