Attachment insecurity moderates emotion responses to mindfulness and loving-kindness meditation in adults raised in low socioeconomic status households.
Taylor N West, Brian P Don, Barbara L. Fredrickson
Emotion (Washington, D.C.) September 1, 2022 DOI: 10.1037/emo0001049 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 113 |
| Population | Midlife adults raised in low-SES homes |
| Interventions | loving-kindness meditation mindfulness meditation |
| Duration | 6-week intervention, 10-week daily reporting period |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Mindfulness meditation increased positive emotions and decreased negative emotions over time in individuals with greater attachment anxiety, while both meditation types reduced negative emotions in those with high attachment avoidance. |
Abstract
Research on attachment theory holds that insecure attachment influences people's daily social and emotional experiences. Mindfulness meditation and loving-kindness meditation have been associated with improvements in physical and mental well-being often through their influence on emotion experience and regulation. Yet, little research has examined how emotional well-being may be improved in insecurely attached individuals through meditation practice. We suspected that the emotion profiles of anxious and avoidant attachment may shift with meditation training, both across time and on a particular day. Improving emotional well-being may be especially consequential for those most at risk for negative health outcomes in late life. A diverse community sample of midlife adults raised in low-SES homes (N = 113; 55% white, 87.5% female) completed daily emotion reports for 10 weeks, during which they received 6 weeks of meditation training, randomized to either loving-kindness or mindfulness meditation practice. Results from growth curve analyses revealed that individuals with greater attachment anxiety and randomized to mindfulness meditation reported significant increases over time in positive emotions alongside decreases in negative emotions. Those high in attachment avoidance reported significant decreases in negative emotions in both meditation groups. On the daily level, within-person dose-response analyses revealed that individuals with greater attachment anxiety showed the most consistent dose-response relations between the duration of either meditation practice and same-day increases in positive emotions and decreases in negative emotions. These findings highlight how meditation interventions can shift emotion profiles of insecurely attached midlife adults who are at heightened risk for late life chronic illnesses. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).