What is the AAI Really Capturing? Long-term Links With Emotion Regulation, Peer

and Parent Relations, & Psychological Functioning

Joe AllenNell 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 SchadAnn Spilker

Farah Williams, Ph.D.David SzwedoJill Antonishak, Ph.D.Joanna ChangoCaroline White

Elie HesselEmily Marston, Ph.D.Glenda Insabella, Ph.D.Erin Miga, Ph.D.Amanda Hare, Ph.D.

Overarching Question

Just what is the AAI actually measuring?

• A thought experiment

Key Premises

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 SecurityEmotion Regulation

Age

ß P

redi

ctin

g Po

pula

rity

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 Security Connection(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 Security Depressive Symptoms

-.25***

Predicting Depressive Symptoms at 13(Correlations)

Emotion Regulation

-.21**

Mood Repair-.21**

Ages 15-18

AAI Security Depressive 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

0.050.1

0.150.2

0.250.3

0.350.4

0.450.5

AAI SecurityMood Repair

Age

ß P

redi

ctin

g D

epre

ssiv

e Sy

mpt

oms 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:

• Positive Peer Relations• Academic/Professional Ambition• Happiness• Prosocial Behavior • Overall success

AAI Security Overall Success

.20*

Predicting Parent-rated Success at 23(Correlations)

Emotion Regulation

.23**

Mood Repair.17*

Gender & Income

R2 = .11**; Multiple R = .33**

All measures are predictive of future Overall Success

Ages 15-18 Age 23

AAI Security Overall Success

.10

Predicting Parent-rated Success at 23(Regression)

Emotion Regulation

.24**

Mood Repair.01

Gender & Income

R2 = .22***; Multiple R = .11**

Emotion Regulation fares best in multiple regression

Ages 15-18 Age 23

Summary: Predicting Broad Young Adult Functional Outcomes

Beyond close relationship functioning:

• Emotion Regulation and AAI Security Overlap in their Predictions

• Emotion Regulation capacities appear as the best overall predictor of broad functional outcomes

Limitations

Multiple measures of Emotion Regulation Processes Exist – Only 2 were examined

Analyses assume that AAI Security and Emotion Processes were stable over time

• (Likely for AAI, less clear for Emotion Regulation)

We’re addressing the AAI – Emotion Regulation question in only one, quite unique, developmental span (ages 14-24).

Copies of this and related papers are available at:www.TeenResearch.org

Conclusions AAI Security is clearly closely linked to Emotion Regulation and

Mood Repair

• Substantial Intercorrelations

• Many similar predictions/correlates

• These predictions are often overlapping Evidence that AAI Security is capturing same variance as Emotion

Regulation processes

• But these constructs are not identical…

Copies of this and related papers are available at:www.TeenResearch.org

Conclusions Clear Domains where AAI Security predicts things that traditional

Emotion Regulation measures do not (e.g., more intense relationships) and vice versa

Two Possible Explanations:

• AAI Security may capture an aspect of Emotion Regulation linked to social relations

• AAI may be capturing something different (a quality of working models? Perspective-taking capacity?)

Copies of this and related papers are available at:www.TeenResearch.org

Conclusions

AAI Security:

• Not just the attachment system grown up…

Conclusions

AAI Security:

• Not just the attachment system grown up…

• BUT what the attachment system grows INTO.