Feeling Caught in the Middle: A Serial Mediation Model of the Effects of Triangulation, Attachment, and Reflective Functioning on Emotion Regulation in American Emerging Adults
Faculty Mentor
John Keefe
Major/Area of Research
Clinical Psychology
Description
INTRODUCTION: Emotion regulation (ER) deficits have been identified in many psychological disorders, highlighting its potential ability to contribute to the development of psychopathology. Family emotional climate, which includes parent-child attachment relationships and family system-level dynamics, is a critical factor in ER development. However, ER and attachment studies overlook the impact of secondary caregivers. Moreover, ER research has not integrated these dyadic and triadic patterns into one model of the role of family emotional climate in ER development. This study addressed these gaps by modeling the serial impacts of parental triangulation, attachment, and reflective functioning (RF) ability on emerging adult ER.
METHOD: Inclusion criteria consisted of individuals ages 18-29 with English proficiency and who grew up living with two married/coupled biological parents. Participants were recruited online through CloudResearch. Along with demographic data, five surveys were administered, measuring experiences of parental triangulation, ER difficulties, attachment to mother and father, and RF capacity.
RESULTS: Four serial mediation models were tested using the PROCESS-macro in Jamovi. In all models, a significant total effect was identified between triangulation and emotion dysregulation. In addition, there were significant indirect effects of triangulation on ER through maternal attachment anxiety, paternal attachment avoidance, and paternal attachment anxiety. There were also significant indirect, serial effects of triangulation on ER through paternal avoidance and RF, and through paternal anxiety and RF.
DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: These results strengthen the argument for studying the interrelationships between attachment to multiple family members, broader family dynamics, and their effects on outcomes like RF and ER. However, the inclusion of only children of heterosexual, married couples limits external validity to wider populations. Future studies should investigate the nature and nuances of each parental relationship to more accurately represent the wider population and clarify what elements of each parental relationship impact ER.
Feeling Caught in the Middle: A Serial Mediation Model of the Effects of Triangulation, Attachment, and Reflective Functioning on Emotion Regulation in American Emerging Adults
INTRODUCTION: Emotion regulation (ER) deficits have been identified in many psychological disorders, highlighting its potential ability to contribute to the development of psychopathology. Family emotional climate, which includes parent-child attachment relationships and family system-level dynamics, is a critical factor in ER development. However, ER and attachment studies overlook the impact of secondary caregivers. Moreover, ER research has not integrated these dyadic and triadic patterns into one model of the role of family emotional climate in ER development. This study addressed these gaps by modeling the serial impacts of parental triangulation, attachment, and reflective functioning (RF) ability on emerging adult ER.
METHOD: Inclusion criteria consisted of individuals ages 18-29 with English proficiency and who grew up living with two married/coupled biological parents. Participants were recruited online through CloudResearch. Along with demographic data, five surveys were administered, measuring experiences of parental triangulation, ER difficulties, attachment to mother and father, and RF capacity.
RESULTS: Four serial mediation models were tested using the PROCESS-macro in Jamovi. In all models, a significant total effect was identified between triangulation and emotion dysregulation. In addition, there were significant indirect effects of triangulation on ER through maternal attachment anxiety, paternal attachment avoidance, and paternal attachment anxiety. There were also significant indirect, serial effects of triangulation on ER through paternal avoidance and RF, and through paternal anxiety and RF.
DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: These results strengthen the argument for studying the interrelationships between attachment to multiple family members, broader family dynamics, and their effects on outcomes like RF and ER. However, the inclusion of only children of heterosexual, married couples limits external validity to wider populations. Future studies should investigate the nature and nuances of each parental relationship to more accurately represent the wider population and clarify what elements of each parental relationship impact ER.