The relationship between attachment style and placement of parents in adults' attachment networks over time.

Using a bull's-eye hierarchical mapping technique (HMT), the present study examined placement of parents in adults' attachment networks over time. We hypothesized that attachment style would predict distance at which network members (mother, father, and romantic partner) would be placed from the core-self over time. Participants completed the HMT on two occasions, 12 months apart. Concurrently and over time, fathers were placed further from the core-self than mothers. Attachment style explained unique variance, beyond that accounted for by individual and relationship characteristics. Specifically, network members with whom participants reported greater attachment insecurity were placed further from the core-self concurrently. Mothers with whom participants reported greater attachment insecurity were placed further from the core-self over time. Unsatisfactory attachment relationships with father and partner and those marked by higher attachment insecurity were more likely to be excluded from attachment networks over time. Findings suggest that attachment style, relationship quality, romantic relationship status, and parents' marital status determine the placement of parents in adults' attachment networks.

The impact of widowhood on depression: findings from a prospective survey.

BACKGROUND: We investigated the impact of widowhood on depression and how resources and contextual factors that define the meaning of loss modified this effect. METHOD: In a prospective, nationally representative sample of women in the US aged 54 or older we compared 64 women who were widowed in the 3 years between data collection waves with 431 women who were stably married over the time interval. RESULTS: Those who became widowed reported more depression than controls for 2 years following the loss. However, this effect was confined to respondents whose husbands were not ill at baseline. Widowed women whose husbands were ill at baseline already had elevated depression in the baseline interview and did not become significantly more depressed after the death. Consistent with this result, women who were not depressed pre-bereavement were most vulnerable to depression following the loss of an ill spouse during the first year of widowhood. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that spouses' illness may forewarn wives of their impending loss and these women may begin to grieve before his death. Those forewarned women who are not depressed pre-bereavement may experience the most post-bereavement depression. Findings are discussed in light of previous, more methodologically limited studies.

Depression, working models of others, and relationship functioning.

Two studies examined depressives' working models of others and the relative contribution of these models and depression to relationship functioning. Respondents reported on their childhood relationships, adult attachment style, and relationship functioning. Study 1 compared mildly depressed and nondepressed college women, and Study 2 compared married women recovering from clinical depression with nondepressed married women. Mildly depressed college women evidenced greater preoccupation and fearful avoidance in romantic relationships than did nondepressed women; recovering depressed women evidenced greater fearful avoidance. In both studies, relationship functioning was predicted more strongly by adult attachment style than by depression status. Among college women, positive experiences with mother also were linked to better relationship functioning; however, attachment style and depression status mediated this effect.