Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapeutic Medicine, Medical University Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 31, A-8036, Graz, Austria.
Center for Integrative Addiction Research (Grüner Kreis Society), Rudolfsplatz 9, A-1010, Vienna, Austria.
BMC Psychol. 2020 Feb 24;8(1):21. doi: 10.1186/s40359-020-0388-7.
Attachment and spirituality are thought to have deep evolutionary roots but are always interpreted within the framework of culture, religion and personal beliefs. While insecure attachment has been observed to be positively related with psychopathology, a positive mental health effect has often been described for spirituality. To examine the cross-cultural validation of previous research focused on Austrian young adults with Western socialization, we attempt to replicate our study examining the influence spirituality has on the connection between insecure attachment and mood-related psychiatric burden with Indian young adults.
We investigated Avoidant (AV) and Anxious (AX) Attachment (ECR-RD), Religious (RWB) and Existential (EWB) Well-Being (MI-RSWB), and mood-related psychiatric burden (Anxiety, Depression, Somatization; BSI-18) in 443 (31% female) Indian young adults (age range: 18-30 years) with a Hindu upbringing.
Compared to young adults with a Roman Catholic upbringing in a Western socialization, Indian participants did not differ in AX and EWB but scored higher in mood-related psychiatric burden (eta = .04), AV (eta = .14), as well as RWB (eta = .28; all p < .01). As in previous research only AX (β = .40) positively predicted mood-related psychiatric burden (ΔR = .15, all p < .01), while EWB was an additional negative predictor (β = -.11, p < .05).
Our findings emphasize the universal importance of attachment and spirituality for mental health as well as the potential influence of socialization on their development. Furthermore, they underline that Existential Well-Being - including hope for a better future, forgiveness, and the experience of sense and meaning - appears to have a compensating effect on the relation between insecure attachment and impaired mental health.
依恋和灵性被认为具有深刻的进化根源，但总是在文化、宗教和个人信仰的框架内进行解释。虽然不安全的依恋与精神病理学呈正相关，但通常也描述了灵性对心理健康的积极影响。为了检验以前专注于具有西方社会化的奥地利年轻人的研究在跨文化方面的有效性，我们试图复制我们的研究，以检验灵性对不安全依恋与与情绪相关的精神负担之间关系的影响，研究对象为印度年轻人。
我们调查了回避型（AV）和焦虑型（AX）依恋（ECR-RD）、宗教（RWB）和存在（EWB）幸福感（MI-RSWB）以及与情绪相关的精神负担（焦虑、抑郁、躯体化；BSI-18）在 443 名（31%为女性）具有印度教背景的印度年轻人（年龄范围：18-30 岁）中。
与具有西方社会化的天主教背景的年轻人相比，印度参与者在 AX 和 EWB 方面没有差异，但在与情绪相关的精神负担（eta=0.04）、AV（eta=0.14）以及 RWB（eta=0.28；所有 p<0.01）方面得分更高。与之前的研究一样，只有 AX（β=0.40）正向预测与情绪相关的精神负担（ΔR=0.15，所有 p<0.01），而 EWB 是一个额外的负向预测因子（β=-0.11，p<0.05）。
我们的研究结果强调了依恋和灵性对心理健康的普遍重要性，以及社会化对它们发展的潜在影响。此外，它们还强调了存在幸福感——包括对更美好未来的希望、宽恕以及意义感和归属感——似乎对不安全依恋与受损心理健康之间的关系具有补偿作用。
