RESEARCH PAPER
The mediating role of mindfulness between attachment style and self-concept clarity within a dyadic context
1
Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
Submission date: 2024-04-19
Final revision date: 2024-11-30
Acceptance date: 2024-12-11
Online publication date: 2025-04-28
Current Issues in Personality Psychology 2025;13(4):217-225
KEYWORDS
attachment avoidanceattachment anxietymindfulnessself-concept clarityactor-partner interdependence mediation modeling
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Background:
Previous research has found that attachment style is associated with self-concept clarity, and mindfulness mediates this association at an individual level. However, there is currently a lack of research on the relationship between attachment style, mindfulness, and self-concept clarity from an interpersonal perspective. Therefore, the current study aimed to extend the relationship between attachment style and self-concept clarity to a dyadic context.
Participants and procedure:
To this end, we recruited online a final sample of 773 pairs of Chinese heterosexual couples (Mage = 35.43, SDage = 3.77 for wives; Mage = 37.46, SDage = 4.39 for husbands) to measure their attachment style, mindfulness, and self-concept clarity and conducted actor-partner interdependence mediation modeling.
Results:
The results indicate actor effects whereby an individual’s mindfulness significantly mediated the relationship between their attachment style (both avoidance and anxiety) and self-concept clarity for both women and men. Furthermore, as regards the partner effect, the mindfulness of men significantly mediated the relationship between the attachment anxiety of women and the self-concept clarity of men.
Conclusions:
Altogether, we provide evidence that the impact of attachment style on self-concept clarity within a dyadic context and the level of husbands’ mindfulness could partly explain the relationship between wives’ attachment anxiety and husbands’ self-concept clarity. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Previous research has found that attachment style is associated with self-concept clarity, and mindfulness mediates this association at an individual level. However, there is currently a lack of research on the relationship between attachment style, mindfulness, and self-concept clarity from an interpersonal perspective. Therefore, the current study aimed to extend the relationship between attachment style and self-concept clarity to a dyadic context.
Participants and procedure:
To this end, we recruited online a final sample of 773 pairs of Chinese heterosexual couples (Mage = 35.43, SDage = 3.77 for wives; Mage = 37.46, SDage = 4.39 for husbands) to measure their attachment style, mindfulness, and self-concept clarity and conducted actor-partner interdependence mediation modeling.
Results:
The results indicate actor effects whereby an individual’s mindfulness significantly mediated the relationship between their attachment style (both avoidance and anxiety) and self-concept clarity for both women and men. Furthermore, as regards the partner effect, the mindfulness of men significantly mediated the relationship between the attachment anxiety of women and the self-concept clarity of men.
Conclusions:
Altogether, we provide evidence that the impact of attachment style on self-concept clarity within a dyadic context and the level of husbands’ mindfulness could partly explain the relationship between wives’ attachment anxiety and husbands’ self-concept clarity. Implications of these findings are discussed.
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