Morgan Sean D, Woodin Erica M
Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Fam Process. 2025 Sep;64(3):e70057. doi: 10.1111/famp.70057.
Understanding how attachment styles between partners relate to the dysregulation of emotions during couple conflict has received little attention, especially over the transition to parenthood. This research investigated how combinations of expectant couples' attachment styles jointly predict emotional flooding, which is a form of interpersonal emotion dysregulation. Using a sample of 98 mixed-gender couples residing in Canada, we used multilevel modeling to examine actor effects (e.g., one's attachment insecurity predicting their own flooding), partner effects (one's attachment insecurity predicting flooding in their partner), and interactions between partners to examine its association with emotional flooding at the third trimester of pregnancy and across early parenthood. Longitudinally, couples were followed from the third trimester to 4 years postpartum to explore how attachment pairings predicted changes in flooding across parenthood. Attachment anxiety in men predicted their own propensity to become flooded during conflict, as well as their partner's flooding. An interaction was seen at the third trimester, such that men who were avoidantly attached reported greater flooding when their partner was high in anxiety compared to low in anxiety. Finally, men's flooding was associated with greater increases over time when high avoidance in men was paired with low avoidance in women, whereas flooding showed the smallest increase when both partners reported low avoidance. Findings suggest that the fit between each partner's attachment styles can improve understanding of the emotional mechanisms experienced during conflict, especially during the often-stressful period of early parenthood.
伴侣之间的依恋风格如何与夫妻冲突期间的情绪失调相关，这方面受到的关注很少，尤其是在向为人父母的过渡阶段。本研究调查了准夫妻依恋风格的组合如何共同预测情绪泛滥，情绪泛滥是人际情绪失调的一种形式。我们以98对居住在加拿大的不同性别的夫妻为样本，使用多层次模型来检验主效应（例如，一个人的依恋不安全感预测他们自己的情绪泛滥）、伴侣效应（一个人的依恋不安全感预测其伴侣的情绪泛滥）以及伴侣之间的相互作用，以检验其与怀孕晚期和整个育儿早期的情绪泛滥的关联。纵向来看，从怀孕晚期到产后4年对夫妻进行跟踪，以探究依恋配对如何预测育儿过程中情绪泛滥的变化。男性的依恋焦虑预测了他们自己在冲突期间情绪泛滥的倾向，以及其伴侣的情绪泛滥。在怀孕晚期观察到一种相互作用，即与焦虑程度低的伴侣相比，回避型依恋的男性在其伴侣焦虑程度高时报告的情绪泛滥程度更高。最后，当男性高度回避而女性低度回避时，男性的情绪泛滥随时间的增加更大，而当双方都报告低度回避时，情绪泛滥的增加最小。研究结果表明，每个伴侣依恋风格之间的匹配可以增进对冲突期间所经历的情绪机制的理解，尤其是在育儿早期这个通常压力较大的时期。
