HUMANITIES & SOCIAL SCIENCES
Does Self Esteem Matter in Regard to Religiosity and Degree of Secure Alexa Cillia Attachment? INTRODUCTION
Background on Adult Attachment Over the past four decades, attachment theory has become one of the most highly regarded and influential theories for social-emotional development and has significantly contributed to the understanding of interpersonal functioning. Attachment Theory was developed by Bowlby (1973) and colleagues with additions to the theory from Ainsworth (Ainsworth, Blehar & Wall, 1978) who assigned attachment styles through analyzing individual attachment patterns. Attachment theory states a working internal model of relationships and self is formed through the quality of relationship between an infant and caregiver (Bowlby, 1973). The applications of attachment theory extend into adult relationships with the theory proposing “that the nature and quality of relationships in adult life are influenced by affective experiences that took place during childhood” (Collins & Read, 1990). The working model of attachment incorporates content such as emotion regulation (Crugnola et al., 2011) and is crucial to understand how individuals manage stress/distress (Mikulincer, Dolev & Shaver, 2004). This serves as a model in the development of subsequent relationships between figures of importance and self (such as friends, significant others, authority figures, etc.) and dictates the level of proximity an individual seeks from others when their attachment system is activated (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007). Stability of Attachment Style Waters, Merrick, Trebous, Crowell
& Albersheim (2000) found people’s attachment style are relatively stable over time through a 20year longitudinal study. Attachment style has also shown to be relatively stable over significant life changes— for example, within the two years following becoming a new mother (Stern, Fraley, Jones, Gross, Shaver, & Cassidy 2018). However, research has revealed “attachment is malleable, such that, with new experiences (e.g., adult trauma, psychotherapy),” an individual can move between attachment styles, becoming more or less secure over time (Tasca, Ritchie & Balfour, L. 2011; BakermansKranenburg & vanIjzendoorn, 2009; Waters et al., 2000). Attachment and Self-esteem Here we describe self-esteem as a person’s general negative or positive attitude towards themselves (Rosenberg, 1965). A child’s environment and relationship with caregivers has been shown to have a deep and permanent effect on the development of their self-esteem (Verschueren and Marcoen 1999, Orth 2018). Bowlby (1985, 1989) outlined that the processes which are linked in establishing an individual’s sense of “self” and attachment style are similar to those responsible for developing an individual’s attitude towards what they perceive as their “self.” However, research by Çevik (2018) has shown levels of self-esteem to be linked with fearful and dismissive attachment styles but not to secure nor preoccupied. Further, Nanu (2015) demonstrated a positive relationship between secure attachment and self-esteem as well as a negative
relationship between insecure attachments and self-esteem, insecure attachment referring to all attachment styles aside from secure. As detailed above, research on the nature of the relationship between attachment and self-esteem has not been conclusively determined. Religiosity and Self-esteem There are mixed findings linking religiosity and self-esteem. In general, religiosity is often examined with the distinction of internal versus external religiosity. Generally, internal religiosity provides individuals with a motivation for life through religion, and they see religion as giving life ultimate significance. In contrast, in extrinsic religiosity, religion is used as a tool for gaining other extrinsic goals such as sociability, security, and status. Unless otherwise noted, religiosity is composed as a combination of both intrinsic and extrinsic. In 2006, Jonas & Fischer found self-esteem negatively correlated with intrinsic religiosity. Additionally, Stern & Wright (2017) found religiosity to have a negative relationship with selfesteem. However, religiosity has also been positively linked to self-esteem (Khaledian, 2013). Additionally, Waldron, Scarpa, & Kim-Spoon (2018) found an individual’s view of God affects the relationship between religiosity and self-esteem. Waldron, et all., (2018) found abuse victims who viewed God as negative experience a negative relationship with religiosity and self-esteem while those who view God positively experience a positive relationship with religiosity. Religiosity and Attachment Prior research has shown a positive
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