Attachment styles, shame guilt, and collaborative problem-solving orientations

The present sLudy explored relations among adult attachmeni stylcs, shame- and guilt-proneness, and several measures of relationship problcm-solving attitudes and behaviors. Participants were I42 undergraduatcs (32 males, I 1 0 fcmales) who completed boih categorical and continuous mcasurcs of adult attachment, as wcll as sclf-report mcasurcs of the other constructs under investigation. Most participants (93%) were currcntly involved in either exclusivc or casual dating relationships at the time of the study. Controlling for respondcnts ’ dating staius, results indicated that participants ’ attachment styles were significantly related to both shame-proncness and collaborative problem-solving, Preoccupied and fearful students were more shame-prone than were their secure and dismissive peers, and securc participants reported significantly higher collaboration scores relative to their fearful counterparts. As expected, shamc and guilt scores were differcntially related t o collaborative problem-solving, and participants ’ attachmcnt security significantly moderated observcd shame-guilt correlations. Finally, respondents ’ guilt and shamc scores partly mediated observed relations between adult attachment stylcs and collaborative problem-solving oricntations. In recent years, attachment theory (Bowlby, 196911 982) has been fruitfully extended t