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 Copies of related papers are available at: WWW.TEENRESEARCH.ORG Collaborators : Maryfrances Porter, Ph.D. Kathleen McElhaney, Ph.D. F. Christy McFarland, Ph.D. Megan Schad Ann Spilker Farah Williams, Ph.D. David Szwedo Jill Antonishak, Ph.D. Joanna Chango Caroline White Elie Hessel Emily Marston, Ph.D. Glenda Insabella, Ph.D. Erin Miga, Ph.D. Amanda Hare, Ph.D.
Transcript
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
Copies of related papers are available at:WWW.TEENRESEARCH.ORG
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.
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.
Infant Strange-Situation
EmotionRegulation
in Adolescent-Parent
Interactions
EmotionRegulation
in Adolescent-Peer
Interactions
Tightest Focuson Attachment-
Specific Behavior
Broadest Focus
on Emotion Regulation
Regulated, Security-Producing Caregiving
Least Correlated with AAI
Most Correlated with AAI
Attachment Measures on the Emotion Regulation Continuum
How correlated are these measures with the AAI?
The AAI is most strongly correlated with measures of Emotion Regulation and least strongly with more direct measures of attachment.
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?
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)
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”
Broad Emotion Regulation• Emotion Regulation =
Resilience in handling emotions + Paying Attention to Them
• Peer-rated Ego Resiliency Scale (Block & Kremen, 1996) (14 items) • …gets over his anger at someone reasonably quickly• …is more curious than most people
• Attention to Emotions from 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
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.
AAI Security(15)
Security and Emotion Regulation Simple Intercorrelations
Emotion Regulation
(15-18)
Mood Repair(15-17)
.31*** .27***
.39***
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
AAI Security Popularity.31***
Links to Popularity at 13(Correlations)
Emotion Regulation
.29***
Mood Repair.19***
Ages 15-18
AAI Security Popularity.16*
Links to Popularity at 13(Regression)
Gender & Income
Emotion Regulation
.21**
Mood Repair.04
R2 = .22***; Multiple R = .47***
At Age 13:AAI Security and Emotion Regulation both Predict Popularity
Ages 15-18
Predicting Popularity Over Time
13 14 15 160
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
AAI Security
Emotion Regulation
Age
ß P
red
icti
ng
Po
pu
lari
ty
Increasing Relation of AAI-Security to Popularity Over Time
Decreasing Relation of Emotion Regulation to Popularity Over Time
AAI
EmotionRegulation
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.
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)
AAI Security Autonomy.44***
Predicting Observed Autonomy in Romantic Disagreement
Emotion Regulation
-.10
Mood Repair.12
Gender & Income
R2 = .20***; Multiple R = .45***
At 18: AAI – Security Best Predicts Autonomy while Disagreeing
Ages 15-18 Age 18
AAI SecurityConnection
(Age 18)
.17
Predicting Observed Connection in Romantic Disagreement
Emotion Regulation
.47***
Mood Repair.00
Gender & Income
R2 = .30***; Multiple R = .55***
At 18:Emotion Regulation Best Predicts Connection while Disagreeing
Ages 15-18 Age 18
AAI Security Autonomy.35***
Predicting Observed Autonomy & Connection in Romantic Disagreement
Emotion Regulation
-.05
Mood Repair-.10
Gender & Income
R2 = .10***; Multiple R = .32***
At 21:AAI – Security best predicts both Autonomy …And…
Ages 15-18 Age 21
AAI Security Connection.24*
Predicting Observed Connection in Romantic Disagreement
Emotion Regulation
.00
Mood Repair.14
Gender & Income
At 21: AAI Security also predicts Connection while Disagreeing
Ages 15-18 Age 21
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.
Depressive Symptoms
Childhood Depression Inventory (Kovacs & Beck, 1977)27-item inventory based on the Beck Depression Inventory
AAI SecurityDepressive Symptoms
-.25***
Predicting Depressive Symptoms at 13(Correlations)
Emotion Regulation
-.21**
Mood Repair-.21**
Ages 15-18
AAI SecurityDepressive Symptoms
.-18*
Predicting Depressive Symptoms at 13(Regression)
Emotion Regulation
-.12
Mood Repair.14+
Gender & Income
R2 = .11***; Multiple R = .34***
AAI – Security/Autonomy is best overall predictor of Depressive Symptoms at 13
Ages 15-18
Strength of Relationship of Insecurity and Poor Mood Repair to
Depressive Symptoms Over Time
13 14 15 16 170
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
0.4
0.45
0.5
AAI SecurityMood Repair
Age
ß P
red
icti
ng
Dep
ress
ive
Sym
pto
ms Increasing Relation of Mood Repair
to Depressive Symptoms Over Time
Decreasing Relation of AAI Securityto Depressive Symptoms Over Time
AAI
Mood Repair
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
Career Satisfaction at Age 24• 5-item measure of satisfaction with progress toward meeting career
goals (Greenhaus, Parasuraman, & Wormley, 1990)
AAI SecurityCareer
Satisfaction
.17*
Predicting Career Satisfaction at 24(Simple Correlations)
Emotion Regulation
.20**
Mood Repair.17*
All measures are predictive of future Career Satisfaction
Ages 15-18 Age 24
AAI SecurityCareer
Satisfaction
.05
Emotion Regulation
.18*
Mood Repair-.04
Predicting Career Satisfaction at 24(Regression)
Gender & Income
R2 = .11**; Multiple R = .33**
Emotion Regulation fares best in multiple regression
Ages 15-18 Age 24
Overall Successful Adjustment at 23(Parent-rated)
• Combination of Scales from Young Adult Adjustment Scale (Capaldi & King, 1992). Including items sampling:
