Victor Florian

Attachment styles, coping strategies, and posttraumatic psychological distress : the impact of the Gulf War in Israel

This study examines the association between adult attachment style and the way people reacted to the Iraqi missile attack on Israel during the Gulf War. One hundred forty Israeli students were interviewed 2 weeks after the war and classified according to their attachment style (secure, avoidant, or ambivalent) and residence area (dangerous vs. less dangerous). Ambivalent people reported more distress than secure people. Avoidant persons reported higher levels of somatization, hostility, and trauma-related avoidance than secure persons. These results characterized Ss living in dangerous areas. In addition, secure people used relatively more support-seeking strategies in coping with the trauma, ambivalent people used more emotion-focused strategies, and avoidant people used more distancing strategies. Findings are discussed in terms of attachment working models.

Appraisal of and Coping with a Real-Life Stressful Situation: The Contribution of Attachment Styles

The current study assesses the impact of attachment style on the ways young adults react to the stress of 4-month combat training. Ninety-two Israeli recruits completed an attachment scale at the beginning of the training. Their appraisal of the training their ways of coping with it, and peer evaluations of their leadership ability were assessed 4 months later. Compared with secure persons, ambivalent persons reported more emotion-focused coping, appraised the training in more threatening terms, appraised themselves as less capable of coping with the training, and were evaluated by their peers as less fitting for military leadership. Avoidant persons reported more distancing coping and less support seeking and appraised the training in more threatening terms. They did not differ from secure persons in the appraisal of their ability to cope with the training or in the nominations they received for leadership positions. Results are discussed in the framework of attachment theory.

Exploring Individual Differences in Reactions to Mortality Salience: Does Attachment Style Regulate Terror Management Mechanisms?

Five studies examined the contribution of attachment style to mortality salience effects. In Study 1, mortality salience led to more severe judgments of transgressions only among anxious-ambivalent and avoidant persons but not among secure persons. In addition, whereas anxious-ambivalent persons showed immediate and delayed increases in severity judgments, avoidant persons showed this response only after a delay period. In Study 2, anxious-ambivalent persons showed immediate and delayed increases in death-thought accessibility after death reminders. Avoidant and secure persons showed this effect only after a delay period. Study 3 revealed that worldview defense in response to mortality salience reduced death-thought accessibility only among avoidant persons. Studies 4-5 revealed that mortality salience led to an increase in the sense of symbolic immortality as well as in the desire of intimacy only among secure persons, but not among avoidant and anxious-ambivalent persons.

The Existential Function of Close Relationships: Introducing Death Into the Science of Love:

Originally, terror management theory proposed two psychological mechanisms in dealing with the terror of death awareness-cultural worldview validation and self-esteem enhancement. In this article, we would like to promote the idea of close relationships as an additional death-anxiety buffering mechanism and review a growing body of empirical data that support this contention. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the sociocultural and personal functions of close relationships, we formulate two basic hypotheses that have received empirical support in a series of experimental studies. First, death reminders heighten the motivation to form and maintain close relationships. Second, the maintenance of close relationships provides a symbolic shield against the terror of death, whereas the breaking of close relationships results in an upsurge of death awareness. In addition, we present empirical evidence supporting the possibility that close relationships function as a related yet separate mechanism from the self-esteem and cultural worldview defenses.

Does hardiness contribute to mental health during a stressful real-life situation? The roles of appraisal and coping.

Israeli recruits (N = 276) completed questionnaires on hardiness, mental health, cognitive appraisal, and ways of coping at the beginning and end of a demanding, 4-month combat training period. Path analysis revealed that 2 components of hardiness--commitment and control measured at the beginning of the training--predicted mental health at the end of the training through the mediation of appraisal and coping variables. Commitment improved mental health by reducing the appraisal of threat and the use of emotion-focused strategies and by increasing secondary appraisal. Control improved mental health by reducing the appraisal of threat and by increasing secondary appraisal and the use of problem-solving and support-seeking strategies.

The impact of mortality salience on reckless driving: a test of terror management mechanisms.

A series of 4 studies, based on terror management theory (TMT), examined the effects of mortality salience on risk taking while driving. In all the studies, participants (N = 603) reported on the relevance of driving to their self-esteem. Then half of them were exposed to various mortality salience inductions, and the remaining to a control condition. The dependent measures were either self-reported behavioral intentions of risky driving or driving speed in a car simulator. In Study 4, half of the participants in each condition received positive feedback about their quality of driving. Findings showed that mortality salience inductions led to more risky driving than the control condition only among individuals who perceived driving as relevant to their self-esteem. The introduction of positive feedback about driving eliminated this effect. The results were discussed in light of the self-enhancing mechanisms proposed by TMT.

Effects of Adult Attachment Style on the Perception and Search for Social Support

Effects of adult attachment style on the perception of and search for social support were examined. One hundred and fifty undergraduate students completed self-report scales tapping their attachment styles, the extent to which they perceive the availability of emotional and instrumental support from significant figures (father, mother, same-sex friend, opposite-sex friend, romantic partner), and the extent to which they look for instrumental and emotional assistance in times of need. Findings showed that secure persons perceived higher levels of emotional and instrumental support from the assessed figures and reported seeking more emotional and instrumental support than avoidant and ambivalent persons did. Results are discussed in the context of an attachment perspective of social support.

The Anxiety-Buffering Function of Close Relationships: Evidence That Relationship Commitment Acts as a Terror Management Mechanism

Three studies examined the terror management function of romantic commitment. In Study 1 (N = 94), making mortality salient led to higher reports of romantic commitment on the Dimensions of Commitment Inventory (J. M. Adams & W. H. Jones, 1997) than control conditions. In Study 2 (N = 60), the contextual salience of thoughts about romantic commitment reduced the effects of mortality salience on judgments of social transgressions. In Study 3 (N = 100), the induction of thoughts about problems in romantic relationships led to higher accessibility of death-related thoughts than did the induction of thoughts about either academic problems or a neutral theme. The findings expand terror management theory, emphasizing the anxiety-buffering function of close relationships.

Fear of death and the judgment of social transgressions : A multidimensional test of terror management theory

The purpose of the research was to integrate a multidimensional approach to fear of personal death with terror management theory. In Study 1, 190 students were divided according to the manipulation of death salience and the intrapersonal and interpersonal aspects of fear of death and were asked to judge transgressions that have either intrapersonal or interpersonal consequences. Study 2 was a conceptual replication of Study 1, with the exception that the manipulation of mortality salience included conditions that made salient either intrapersonal or interpersonal aspects of death. Findings indicate that the effects of mortality salience depend on the aspect of death that is made salient, the aspect of death that individuals most fear, and the type of the judged transgression. More severe judgments of transgressions after death salience manipulation were found mainly when there was a fit between these 3 factors. Findings are discussed in light of terror management theory.

When Marriage Breaks Up-Does Attachment Style Contribute to Coping and Mental Health?:

This study examines the association between adult attachment style and the way people react to the crisis of divorce. A research group of 120 participants undergoing legal procedures related to divorce and a control group of 108 married participants were classified according to their attachment style (secure, avoidant, anxious-ambivalent) and completed the Mental Health Inventory. In addition, the divorced participants answered scales tapping appraisal of divorce and ways of coping with it. As expected, divorced participants reported more distress than married ones. This effect was found among avoidant and anxious-ambivalent participants, but not among secure participants. Significant differences were also found among attachment groups in appraisal and coping variables. Structural analyses supported the hypothesis that appraisal and coping mediate the association between attachment style and mental health during the crisis of divorce. Results are discussed in terms of attachment theory.