Attachment style in adjustment to conjugal bereavement

This study examined the role of attachment style in adjustment to bereaveme nt. Midlife bereaved individuals whose spouse had died in the previous year completed the Reciprocal Attachment Questionnaire (RAQ; West & Sheldon-Kel ler, 1994) and a measure assessing aspects of appraising and coping with th e loss. They also were administered repeated symptom measures at 6, 14, 25, and 60 months post bereavement. Complete symptom measures data over the co urse of the 5-year period were available for 32 participants. The RAQ compu lsive care-seeking measure of anxious attachment was predictive of appraise d inability to cope with the loss and of more severe symptomatology over th e course of 5 years. Furthermore, appraised inability to cope with the loss was shown to mediate the relationship between compulsive care-seeking and symptoms. The RAQ compulsive self-reliance measure of avoidant attachment w as not related to symptomatology, however. Finally, the RAQ angry withdrawa l measure of ambivalent attachment was predictive of 6 and 14 months post-l oss symptoms, but not of 25- or 60-month symptoms, The differences in the p attern of findings for compulsive care-seeking and angry withdrawal are dis cussed in the context of previous findings in the bereavement literature on the role of dependency and ambivalence in bereavement-related adjustment.