Emotional awareness mediates the relationship between attachment and anxiety symptoms in adolescents

Abstract

Attachment influences the experience of anxiety symptoms in adolescence and emotion regulation seems to mediate this influence. Nevertheless, studies of the role of emotional awareness are lacking. The aim of this study is to examine the direct and indirect effects of adolescents’ attachment patterns on anxiety regarding the mediatory role of two emotion awareness dimensions, namely body awareness and differentiating emotions. The participants completed self-report instruments on attachment, emotion awareness, and anxiety, and serial mediation models were used to analyse the data. Both secure and anxious/ambivalent attachment have a positive indirect effect on anxiety through body unawareness, and avoidant attachment shows a unique positive direct effect on anxiety. Attachment was not a predictor of differentiating emotions and this was not a predictor of anxiety. The results are discussed and implications for practice highlight the core role of body awareness in preventive interventions of adolescents’ anxiety problems.