Parental Care, Obsessive Beliefs, and Attachment Insecurity (2011)

Undergraduates: Jessica Yarbro, Brittain Mahaffey

Faculty Advisor: Jonathan Abramowitz
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a debilitating anxiety disorder defined by the presence of obsession and/or compulsions. Obsessions are thoughts or impulses that provoke anxiety, and compulsions are excessive and inappropriate behaviors that are performed in order to alleviate anxiety. Contemporary cognitive-behavioral models of OCD suggest that certain types of dysfunctional beliefs about intrusive thoughts (“obsessive beliefs”) give rise to an increased risk of developing OCD. Parenting characterized by low levels of care as well as the formation of insecure attachment relationships, both anxious and avoidant, are associated with increased risk for the development of obsessive beliefs. Our study seeks to understand the relationship between these three variables. Specifically we posited that maladaptive attachment patterns would partially mediate the relationship between parental care and obsessive beliefs. A sample of 349 college students completed online, self-report measures of recalled parental care, attachment insecurity, and obsessive beliefs. Analyses revealed that attachment anxiety partially mediated the relationship between parental care and obsessive beliefs while attachment avoidance did not. These finding suggest that the relationship between parental care and obsessive beliefs can be partially explained by the development of anxious attachment. These findings have several implications for cognitive-behavioral models and treatment of OCD.