Korean Journal of Family Medicine

"Attachment Style"

Original Articles

The Intervening Role of Alexithymia in the Relationship between Attachment Styles and Test Anxiety among Gifted High School Students: Esfandiar Sepahvand, Ali Zakiei, Keivan Rafieian, Saeid Roumani, Saeid Komasi, Soheyla Reshadat; Korean J Fam Med 2015;36(4):174-179. Published online July 17, 2015; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4082/kjfm.2015.36.4.174

Abstract
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Background

Given the importance of test anxiety among gifted students, the present study was conducted to assess the intervening role of alexithymia in the relationship between test anxiety and attachment styles.

Methods

By means of simple random sampling, 300 participants were selected out of all the students at two high schools in Khorramabad, which are affiliated with the Iranian National Organization for Development of Exceptional Talents (SAMPAD). Test anxiety, alexithymia, and attachment style questionnaires were used for data collection. Pearson correlation and path analysis tests were used to analyze the data.

Results

The results showed a positive relationship between test anxiety and avoidant and anxious attachment styles. Alexithymia and test anxiety were also positively related. Moreover, the results indicated that 12% of changes in test anxiety were explained by avoidant and anxious attachment styles as well as alexithymia. The relationship between the avoidant attachment style and test anxiety was 0.06 through alexithymia. However, no significant relationship between anxious attachment and test anxiety through alexithymia was found.

Conclusion

The avoidant attachment style leads to test anxiety when the level of alexithymia increases in an individual.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by

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Relations between Worry, Attachment Styles and Perceived Parental Rearing in Primary School Children.: Sung Goo Kang, Jin Hee Shin, Yu Na Hwang, Eun Jeong Lee, Sang Wook Song; J Korean Acad Fam Med 2008;29(11):854-866. Published online November 10, 2008

Abstract
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Background: Worry, a core feature of anxiety disorder, is shown in not only children with anxiety disorder but also normal children. This study was conducted to determine the relationship between worry and family environment factors, especially, perceived parental rearing and attachment styles among children. Methods: Five hundred and nine children participated in this study among 549 children in third, fourth, fifth and sixth grades in two primary schools located in Seoul and Seongnam from October 2007 to December 2007. Forty children did not agree with participation (rejection rate: 7.3%). Their degrees of worry, attachment styles and perceived parental rearing were investigated with questionnaires. Results: The reliability of a questionnaire asking children's worry, PSWQ-C and a questionnaire asking perceived parental rearing, modified EMBU-C was appropriate with internal consistency (Cronbach's Ձ of PSWQ- C: 0.92, Cronbach's Ձ of modified EMBU-C: 0.68∼0.89). Around 22.4% of children had insecure attachment (avoidant or ambivalent attachment) and scores of worry were high in both girls and boys. When children perceived their parental rearing behavior as anxious rearing, they were classified to have ambivalent attachment in many cases by themselves. And when they perceived the rearing as rejection many of them were classified to have avoidant or ambivalent attachment by themselves. Worry showed a significantly negative correlation in the cases where children answered their perceived parental rearing as emotional warmth and showed a significantly positive correlation with rejective and anxious rearing. Conclusion: This study found that children's worry was closely related with their perceived parental rearing and attachment styles. If the children's attachment, which has been developed while they have grown up, was insecure and they did not perceive parental rearing as emotional warmth, the intensity of worry, a core symptom of anxiety disorder, increased. (J Korean Acad Fam Med 2008;29:854-866)