Publication year: 2011
Source: Social Science & Medicine, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 31 August 2011
Liang, Liu , Shiri, Cohen , Marc S., Schulz , Robert J., Waldinger
Research in the U.S. has shown strong connections between insecure attachment in close relationships and somatization. In addition, studies have demonstrated connections between somatic symptoms and anger experience and expression. In this study, we integrate perspectives from these two literatures by testing the hypothesis that proneness to anger and suppression of anger mediate the link between insecurity in relationships and somatization. Between 2000 and 2003, a community-based sample of 101 couples in a large U.S. city completed self-report measures, including the Somatic Symptom Inventory, the Relationship Scales Questionnaire, the Multidimensional Anger Inventory, the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale, and the Beck…
Highlights: ► This study sheds new light on ways that insecurity in close relationships amongst US couples may be linked with somatization. ► Styles of experiencing and regulating anger mediated this link, and men and women differed in the way that anger mattered. ► For men, proneness to anger mediated the link between fearful attachment and somatization. ► For women, the tendency to suppress anger mediated the link between fearful attachment and somatization.