III International Congress of Emotional Intelligence8, 9 and 10 September 2011 | Opatija, Croatia

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATTACHMENT QUALITY AND EITHE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATTACHMENT QUALITY AND EIAna Altaras Dimitrijević*, Zorana Jolić Marjanović & Aleksandar Dimitrijević

Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade

Nataša HanakFaculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation, University of Belgrade

*aaltaras@f.bg.ac.rs

1. INTRODUCTION

2. METHOD

3. RESULTS

4. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

2.1 ParticipantsA study sample consisted of 128 employed adults (70 males, 58 females), aged between 25 and 61 (M=39.67. SD=8.38). 2.2 Instruments(a) Emotional intelligence was assessed via the Serbian versions of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT V 2.0; Mayer et al., 2002) and the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue; Petrides, 2009). (b) Attachment quality was assessed using the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R; Fraley, Waller & Brennan, 2000) and the Revised version of Attachment Questionnaire (UPIPAV-R; Hanak, 2004), with the latter categorizing study participants into four attachment patterns, yielding the following classification: secure (33.9%), fearful (16.9%), dismissing (20.2%), and preoccupied (29.0%).

It is now well established that secure attachment in infancy is a good predictor of affect regulation and “theory of mind” in children, as well as mentalizing capacity in adults. These same qualities have also been related to emotional intelligence. It is, for instance, considered that mentalizing includes EI-related competencies, and that affect regulation is an important aspect of EI. Despite the fact that conceptual overlaps between attachment and EI seem to be more apparent than their differences, and that good psychological measures are available for both constructs, connections between them have not been tested empirically in a comprehensive manner. This study sought to address this gap in the literature, by examining the relationship between attachment and ability and trait EI, hypothesizing that better quality of attachment would implicate higher scores on both types of EI measures.

Attachment quality

Branches AreasOverall EI

M (SD)Perceiving emotionsM (SD)

Using emotionsM (SD)

Understanding emotions

M(SD)

Managing emotionsM (SD)

Experiental EIM(SD)

Strategic EIM (SD)

Secure 0.48 (.09)1 0.47 (.05)1,2 0.45 (.07)1 0.35 (.07)1,2 0.48 (.06)1 0.40 (.05)1,2 0.44 (.04)1

Fearful 0.40 (.11)1 0.37 (.09)1,3 0.40 (.08)1 0.25 (.04)1,3 0.38 (.08)1,2 0.33 (.05)1,3,4 0.35 (.05)1,2,3

Dismissing 0.45 (.10) 0.41 (.09)2 0.44 (.07) 0.31 (.06)3 0.43 (.08) 0.37 (.05)3 0.40 (.05)2

Preoccupied 0.45 (.12) 0.44 (.09)3 0.44 (.06) 0.30 (.07)2 0.45 (.10)2 0.37 (.05)2,4 0.41 (.07)3

F (DF) 3.017 (3, 119)* 8.255 (3, 119)** 2.722 (3, 120)* 13.118 (3, 120)** 6.233 (3, 119)** 10.826 (3, 120)**11.533 (3,

119)**

Our results confirm a significant connection between attachment patterns and EI. Persons with secure attachment pattern are superior in perceiving, communicating, and regulating emotions, as well as more likely to establish meaningful personal relationships and live fulfilling lives; those with insecure attachment (i.e., negative models of the self and/or the other) score systematically lower on various facets of the EI.We conclude that the relationship, and possible influences, between attachment and its established correlates, on the one hand, and ability and trait EI, on the other, deserve thorough study that may have important implications for research, education and psychotherapy.

**p< .01; *p< .05. Note: Results of the Post hoc tests are indexed by numbers.

Attachment quality

FactorsOverall trait EI

M (SD)Well-beingM (SD)

Self-controlM (SD)

EmotionalityM(SD)

SociabilityM (SD)

Secure 5.91 (.56)1 5.30 (.73)1,2 5.74 (.56)1,2,3 5.30 (.68)1,2 5.59 (.48)1,2,3

Fearful 4.79 (.73)1,2,3 4.15 (.61)1,3 4.64 (.63)1,4 4.39 (.83)1,3 4.50 (.59)1,4,5

Dismissing 5.60 (.78)2 5.01 (.71)3 5.09 (.55)2 5.07 (.71)3 5.18 (.57)2,4

Preoccupied 5.54 (.62)3 4.67 (.58)2 5.14 (.45)3,4 4.69 (.63)2 5.02 (.41)3,5

F (DF) 13.315 (3, 119)** 15.110 (3, 119)** 21.300 (3, 119)** 9.728 (3, 119)** 22.500 (3, 119)****p< .01; *p< .05. Note: Results of the Post hoc tests are indexed by numbers.

Table 1 Differences between groups with different attachment patterns with respect to ability EI (ANOVA)

Table 2 Differences between groups with different attachment patterns with respect to trait EI (ANOVA)

Table 3 Correlations between ECR Avoidance and Anxiety scores and MSCEIT and TEIQue scores

ECR

MSCEIT TEIQueBranches

Overall EI

FactorsOverall trait EI

Percieving

emotions

Using emotion

s

Understanding emotions

Managing

emotions

Experiental EI

Strategic EI

Well- being

Self-control

Emotionality

Sociability

Avoidance -.132 -.170 -.146 -.345** -.169 -.308** -.264**-.469*

*-.359** -.562** -.457** -.551**

Anxiety -.399** -.402** -.242** -.502** -.454** -.466** -.538**-.430*

*-.424** -.537** -.473** -.555**

**p< .01; *p< .05

5. REFERENCES

Fraley, R. C., Waller, N. G., & Brennan, K. A. (2000). An item-response theory analysis of self-report measures of adult attachment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 350-365.

Hanak, N. (2004). Konstruisanje novog instrumenta za procenu afektivnog vezivanja kod odraslih i adolescenata – UPIPAV. Psihologija, 37(1), 123–141.Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. R. (2002). Mayer-Salovey-Caruso emotional intelligence test: User’s manual. MHS.Petrides, K. V. (2009). Technical manual for the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaires (TEIQue). London: London Psychometric Laboratory.