The Mediating Role of Self-Criticism and Perfectionism in the Relationship Between Attachment Styles and Social Anxiety Among High School Students in Bojnurd City

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD Student in Health Psychology, Azad University of Gorgan, Gorgan, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

3 Assistant Professor of Clinical PsycAssistant Professor of Clinical Psychology, Urmia University, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Department of Psychologyhology, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between insecure attachment styles (avoidant and anxious) and social anxiety, with the mediating role of self-criticism and perfectionism. This descriptive study employed a correlational path analysis design. The statistical population consisted of all high school students in Bojnurd city, Iran. A total of 288 participants were selected using a multi-stage cluster sampling method. Participants completed a set of measures, including the Hazan and Shaver Attachment Style Questionnaire, the Self-Criticism Scale, the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, and the Connor-Davidson Anxiety Inventory. The data were analyzed using SPSS and LISREL software. Results indicated that the indirect effect of avoidant attachment style on social anxiety was mediated by perfectionism (β = 0.30). The indirect effect of anxious attachment style on social anxiety was mediated by self-criticism (β = 0.78) and perfectionism (β = 0.24). The findings of this study support the mediating role of self-criticism and perfectionism in the relationship between insecure attachment styles and social anxiety.

Keywords

References

Abaspour, P., Ahmadi, S., Ahmadi, S. M., & Asl, S. T. S. (2014). The Role of Attachment Styles and Perfectionism in Predicting of Students' Mental Health. Journal of Clinical Research in Paramedical Sciences, 3(3). e82117. doi:10.5812/jcrps.82117
Aderka, I. M., Hofmann, S. G., Nickerson, A., Hermesh, H., Gilboa-Schechtman, E., & Marom, S. (2012). Functional impairment in social anxiety disorder. Journal of anxiety disorders, 26(3), 393-400.doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2012.01.003
Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1982). The development of infant-mother attachment. In In Thebeginning: Readings on Infancy (pp. 133-143). Columbia University Press. doi:10.7312/bels91552-016
Ariapooran, S., Mahdieh Najafabadi, N., & Ghasemipour, Y. (2022). Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder symptoms in children of mothers with high and low negative perfectionism. Journal of Research in Psychopathology, 3(10), 12-17. doi:10.22098/JRP.2022.11230.1127
Beidel, D. C., Turner, S. M., Stanley, M. A., & Dancu, C. V. (1989). The Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory: Concurrent and external validity. Behavior Therapy, 20(3), 417-427. doi:10.1016/S0005-7894(89)80060-7
Besharat, M. A. (2004). An investigation of the relationship between perfectionism and self-esteem in pre-college students. Evolutionary Psychology (Iranian Psychologists), 1(1), 21-30.
Besharat, M.A (2000) Standardization of the Adult Attachment Scale. Research Report. University of Tehran.
Besser, A., & Priel, B. (2005). The apple does not fall far from the tree: Attachment styles and personality vulnerabilities to depression in three generations of women. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31(8), 1052-1073.  doi:10.1177/0146167204274082
Blatt, S. J., & Levy, K. N. (2003). Attachment theory, psychoanalysis, personality development, and psychopathology. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 23(1), 102-150. doi:10.1080/07351692309349028
Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss: retrospect and prospect. American journal of Orthopsychiatry, 52(4), 664.
Brumariu, L. E., & Kerns, K. A. (2008). Mother–child attachment and social anxiety symptoms in middle childhood. Journal of applied developmental psychology, 29(5), 393-402. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2008.06.002
Brumariu, L. E., Obsuth, I., & Lyons-Ruth, K. (2013). Quality of attachment relationships and peer relationship dysfunction among late adolescents with and without anxiety disorders. Journal of anxiety disorders, 27(1), 116-124.  doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2012.09.002
Cantazaro, A., & Wei, M. (2010). Adult attachment, dependence, self‐criticism, and depressive symptoms: A test of a mediational model. Journal of personality, 78(4), 1135-1162.  doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00645.x
Carcedo, R. J., Vázquez-Iglesias, P., Parade, S., Herreros-Fraile, A., & Hervalejo, D. (2023). Social anxiety mediates the effect of attachment to parents on friendships and loneliness during the college transition. Current Psychology, 42(13), 10457-10467. doi:10.1007/s12144-023-02957-1.
Carfagno, M., Barone, E., Arsenio, E., Bello, R., Marone, L., Volpicelli, A., & Monteleone, A. M. (2024). Mediation role of interpersonal problems between insecure attachment and eating disorder psychopathology. Eating and Weight Disorders-Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, 29(1), 43.  doi:10.1007/s40519-023-00603-9
Ciprovac, B., Chen, J., Kemps, E., Williamson, P., & Windsor, T. (2019). Cognitive biases in social anxiety and perfectionism. In 9th World Congress of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.
Cox, B. J., Walker, J. R., Enns, M. W., & Karpinski, D. C. (2002). Self-criticism in generalized social phobia and response to cognitive-behavioral treatment. Behavior Therapy, 33(4), 479-491. doi:10.1016/S0005-7894(02)80012-0
Dakanalis, A., Timko, C. A., Zanetti, M. A., Rinaldi, L., Prunas, A., Carrà, G., ... & Clerici, M. (2014). Attachment insecurities, maladaptive perfectionism, and eating disorder symptoms: A latent mediated and moderated structural equation modeling analysis across diagnostic groups. Psychiatry Research, 215(1), 176-184.  doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2013.10.039
De Santis, S., Falgares, G., & Kopala-Sibley, D. C. (2021). The relationship between attachment styles and internalizing/externalizing problems: The mediating role of self-criticism. Current Psychology, 40, 2355-2365. doi:10.1007/s12144-021-01475-1
Dobos, B., Urban, R., Kenny, D., & Piko, B. F. (2021). The mediating role of social phobia between perfectionism and low life satisfaction among young women. The European Journal of Counselling Psychology, 9(1), 1-6. doi:10.5964/ejcop.v9i1.261
Fang, F., & Wang, J. (2024). The relationship between attachment and depression among college students: The mediating role of perfectionism. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1352094.  doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1352094
Fathi Ashtiani, A., & Dasani, M. (2008). Psychological tests - evaluation of personality and mental health.Tehran: Ba'ath Publications: Basic Books.
Flett, G. L., Burdo, R., & Nepon, T. (2021). Mattering, insecure attachment, rumination, and self-criticism in distress among university students. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 19, 1300-1313. doi: 10.1007/s11469-020-00303-5
Frost, R. O., Marten, P., Lahart, C., & Rosenblate, R. (1990). The dimensions of perfectionism. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14, 449-468.  doi:10.1007/BF01172967
Gadassi Polack, R., Everaert, J., Uddenberg, C., Kober, H., & Joormann, J. (2021). Emotion regulation and self-criticism in children and adolescence: Longitudinal networks of transdiagnostic risk factors. Emotion, 21(7), 1438-1451. doi:10.1037/emo0001041
Ghaderi, M., Ahi, Q., Vaziri, S., Mansoori, A., & Shahabizadeh, F. (2020). The mediating role of self–criticism and distress tolerance in relationship between attachment styles and non-suicidal self-injury behaviors in adolescents. Journal of Research in Behavioural Sciences, 17(4), 552-537.  doi:10.29252/jrbs.17.4.552
Gilbert, P., Clarke, M., Hempel, S., Miles, J. N., & Irons, C. (2004). Criticizing and reassuring oneself: An exploration of forms, styles and reasons in female students. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 43(1), 31-50.  doi:10.1348/014466504772812959
Hazan, C. (1987). Conceptualizing romantic love as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(3), 511-524.  doi:10.1037/0022-3514.52.3.511
Hewitt, P. L., Flett, G. L., & Mikail, S. F. (2017). Perfectionism: A relational approach to conceptualization, assessment, and treatment. Guilford Publications.  doi:10.1037/a0035723
Iancu, I., Bodner, E., & Ben-Zion, I. Z. (2015). Self-esteem, dependency, self-efficacy, and self-criticism in social anxiety disorder. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 58, 165-171.  doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2014.11.018
Jung, S. J., & Hong, J. (2022). The Relationship between Internalized Shame and Social Interaction Anxiety: The Mediating Effects of Self-Criticism and Rejection Sensitivity. Journal of Emotional & Behavioral Disorders, 30(4), 235-247.  doi:10.1177/10634266221100456
Kamalou, S. (2020). The role of attachment style in resolution of self-criticism process. University of Toronto (Canada).  doi:10.XXXX/XXXX
Kaya, F., Odacı, H., & Yazıcı Çelebi, G. (2023). Attachment anxiety and interpersonal relationship styles: The mediating role of interpersonal cognitive distortions. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 16(3), 320-339.  doi:10.1007/s41811-023-00097-1
Kessler, R. C., Petukhova, M., Sampson, N. A., Zaslavsky, A. M., & Wittchen, H. U. (2012). Twelve‐month and lifetime prevalence and lifetime morbid risk of anxiety and mood disorders in the United States. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 21(3), 169-184.  doi:10.1002/mpr.1359
Khanipour, H. (2013). Self-injurious behaviors in adolescents: Nature, suicidality and role psychological factors (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Allameh Tabatabaei University.
Khosravi, A., Abyar, F., Merci, Y., Khodakhah Darban, S., Vandshekari, F., & Ebadi, Z. (2022). The effect of compassion-focused therapy on self-compassion and self-criticism in adolescents with body-image disorder. Journal of Research in Psychopathology, 3(9), 8-14. doi: 10.22098/JRP.2022.10363.1067
Kiel, L., Hopwood, C. J., & Lind, M. (2024). Changes in personality functioning and pathological personality traits as a function of treatment: A feasibility study. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 1-10.  doi:10.1007/s10862-024-10001-2
Kim, J. J., Kent, K. M., Cunnington, R., Gilbert, P., & Kirby, J. N. (2020). Attachment styles modulate neural markers of threat and imagery when engaging in self-criticism. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 13776.  doi:10.1038/s41598-020-70616-2
Ko, A., Hewitt, P. L., Cox, D., Flett, G. L., & Chen, C. (2019). Adverse parenting and perfectionism: A test of the mediating effects of attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and perceived defectiveness. Personality and Individual Differences, 150, 109474.  doi:10.1016/j.paid.2019.06.017
Lafontaine, M. F., Péloquin, K., Levesque, C., Azzi, S., Daigle, M. P., & Brassard, A. (2019). Beyond the simple association between romantic attachment insecurity and dyadic coping: An examination of romantic perfectionism as a mediator. Journal of Relationships Research, 10, e12.  doi:10.1017/jrr.2019.6[1]
Lazarus, G., & Shahar, B. (2018). The role of shame and self-criticism in social anxiety: A daily-diary study in a nonclinical sample. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 37(2), 107-127.  doi:10.1521/jscp.2018.37.2.107
Lincoln, J., Tip, L., & De La Fuente Garcia, S. (2024). Attachment-related anxiety and social anxiety: The mediating role of self-esteem. medRxiv, 2024-05. doi:10.XXXX/XXXX
Loew, C. A., Schauenburg, H., & Dinger, U. (2020). Self-criticism and psychotherapy outcome: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 75, 101808.  doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2019.101808
Luyten, P., & Blatt, S. J. (2011). Integrating theory-driven and empirically-derived models of personality development and psychopathology: A proposal for DSM V. Clinical Psychology Review, 31(1), 52-68.  doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.09.003[1
Mahdavi Rad, H., Zahedi Tajrishi, K., Ramezanifarani, A., & Asgharnejad Farid, A. (2023). The mediating role of shame and self-criticism in the relationship between attachment styles and severity of depressive symptoms. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, 28(4), 492-507. doi:10.XXXX/XXXX
Mammadova, F. (2023). The relationship between social phobia and attachment styles in adolescents (Doctoral dissertation).
Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2010). Attachment in adulthood: Structure, dynamics, and change. Guilford Publications.
Mohammadi, A., & Roshan Chasli, R. (2021). Structural relationships of social anxiety symptoms with perfectionism in students: The mediating role of mindfulness. Clinical Psychology and Personality, 19(1), 109-119.  doi:10.22070/CPAP.2021.3301
Mosleh kholtapeh, N., & nazari, V. (2022). The effectiveness of play therapy on reducing separation anxiety disorder and isolation. Journal of Research in Psychopathology, (), -. doi: 10.22098/jrp.2022.10579.1085.
Mufassery, M. R., Asadnia, S., Arabi divrazmi, S., rahimi, F., Shahini, S., & Shahini, P. (2023). The comparison of illness anxiety disorder with panic disorder based on meta-diagnostic cognitive structures: Pain catastrophizing and anxiety sensitivity. Journal of Research in Psychopathology, 4(14), 29-36. doi: 10.22098/jrp.2023.13136.1183
Murphy, B., & Bates, G. W. (1997). Adult attachment style and vulnerability to depression. Personality and Individual Differences, 22(6), 835-844.  doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(96)00277-2[1
Ollendick, T. H., & Benoit, K. E. (2012). A parent–child interactional model of social anxiety disorder in youth. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 15(1), 81-91.  doi:10.1007/s10567-012-0112-4
Pietrabissa, G., Gullo, S., Aimé, A., Mellor, D., McCabe, M., Alcaraz-Ibánez, M., ... & Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, M. (2020). Measuring perfectionism, impulsivity, self-esteem and social anxiety: Cross-national study in emerging adults from eight countries. Body Image, 35, 265-278.  doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.09.012
Pinto, A., Dargani, N., Wheaton, M. G., Cervoni, C., Rees, C. S., & Egan, S. J. (2017). Perfectionism in obsessive-compulsive disorder and related disorders: What should treating clinicians know? Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 12, 102-108.  doi:10.1016/j.jocrd.2017.01.001
Rogier, G., Muzi, S., Morganti, W., & Pace, C. S. (2023). Self-criticism and attachment: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 214, 112359. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2023.112359
Ruscio, A. M., Brown, T. A., Chiu, W. T., Sareen, J., Stein, M. B., & Kessler, R. C. (2008). Social fears and social phobia in the USA: Results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Psychological Medicine, 38(1), 15-28.  doi:10.1017/S0033291707001699
Sasagawa, S., & Essau, C. A. (2022). Relationship between social anxiety symptoms and behavioral impairment in adolescents: The moderating role of perfectionism and learning motivation. European Journal of Education and Psychology, 15(2), 79-96.  doi:10.30552/ejep.v15i2.1044
Selajgha, S., & Bakhshani, N. (2013). The effectiveness of the combination of group exposure therapy and stress coping skills training on the level of social anxiety of students. Knowledge and Research in Applied Psychology, 15(2(56)), 96-104.  doi:10.30486/JSRP.2013.108751
Shahar, B., Carlin, E. R., Engle, D. E., Hegde, J., Szepsenwol, O., & Arkowitz, H. (2012). A pilot investigation of emotion‐focused two‐chair dialogue intervention for self‐criticism. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 19(6), 496-507.  doi:10.1002/cpp.762
Shooshtari, M. H., & Khanipour, H. (2014). Comparison of self-harm and suicide attempt in adolescents: a systematic review. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, 20(1), 3-13.  doi:10.22037/ijpcp.v20i1.4755
Wang, H. (2023). Impact of attachment relationships on anxiety and depression. InSHS Web of Conferences (Vol. 180, p. 02028). EDP Sciences.  doi:10.1051/shsconf/202318002028
Weisman, O., Aderka, I. M., Marom, S., Hermesh, H., & Gilboa-Schechtman, E. (2011). Social rank and affiliation in social anxiety disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49(6-7), 399-405.  doi:10.1016/j.brat.2011.03.010[1]
Zuroff, D. C., & Fitzpatrick, D. K. (1995). Depressive personality styles: Implications for adult attachment. Personality and Individual Differences, 18(2), 253-265.  doi:10.1016/0191-8869(94)00136-G

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics