School of Behavioral Science, Tel Aviv- Yaffo Academic College, Tel Aviv-Yafo 6818211, Israel.
Viruses. 2022 Mar 27;14(4):693. doi: 10.3390/v14040693.
Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between attachment style, social support, and psychological distress (i.e., depression and anxiety) during the COVID-19 lockdown of the third wave in Israel. Specifically, we examined whether social support mediates the well-documented relationship between attachment style and psychological distress. Methods: An online survey was administered from 3 January to 6 February, 2021, while a strict lockdown was in place. The sample included 288 Israelis ranging between the ages of 18−78, recruited by snowball sampling. Psychological distress was evaluated by Patients Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder questionnaire (GAD-7); attachment style by the Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR-36), and social support by the Multi-dimensional Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). A mediation model was applied with social support mediating the association between attachment style and depression and anxiety. Results: Significant correlations were found between attachment style and psychological distress, and between social support and psychological distress. Social support partially mediated the associations between attachment style and psychological distress (Depression: p < 0.001, confidence interval [CI] = 0.4018, 1.7468; Anxiety: p < 0.001, confidence interval [CI] = 0.0493, 0.9822). These results remained the same while controlling for age. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the secure attachment style serves as a protective factor against psychological distress and vice versa; insecure attachment style serves as a risk factor for developing psychological distress during a peak period of COVID-19. Nevertheless, social support played a central role in the association between attachment style and psychological distress, thus, individuals with an insecure attachment may thus be helped by offering them social support during a crisis, which in turn may increase their well-being.
本研究旨在探讨在以色列第三波 COVID-19 封锁期间，依恋风格、社会支持与心理困扰（即抑郁和焦虑）之间的关系。具体而言，我们检验了社会支持是否在依恋风格与心理困扰之间的已有文献关系中起中介作用。
我们于 2021 年 1 月 3 日至 2 月 6 日期间在严格封锁期间进行了在线调查。样本包括 288 名年龄在 18-78 岁之间的以色列人，通过滚雪球抽样招募。采用患者健康问卷（PHQ-9）和广泛性焦虑症问卷（GAD-7）评估心理困扰；采用亲密关系经历量表（ECR-36）评估依恋风格，采用多维感知社会支持量表（MSPSS）评估社会支持。采用中介模型，检验社会支持在依恋风格与抑郁和焦虑之间的关联中起中介作用。
依恋风格与心理困扰之间，以及社会支持与心理困扰之间均存在显著相关性。社会支持部分中介了依恋风格与心理困扰之间的关联（抑郁：p<0.001，置信区间[CI] = 0.4018，1.7468；焦虑：p<0.001，CI = 0.0493，0.9822）。在控制年龄后，这些结果仍然成立。
我们的研究结果表明，安全型依恋风格可作为心理困扰的保护因素，反之亦然；非安全型依恋风格是在 COVID-19 高峰期出现心理困扰的风险因素。然而，社会支持在依恋风格与心理困扰之间的关联中起着核心作用，因此，在危机期间为具有非安全型依恋风格的个体提供社会支持可能有助于增加他们的幸福感。
