Emotion Regulation, Mentalization, and Autobiographical Memory Functioning as Predicting Unresolved Loss: Does Early Adversity Make a Difference?

• Applicants: Dr. Johanna Behringer; Professor Dr. Gottfried Spangler
• Subject Area: Developmental and Educational Psychology
• Term: from 2013 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 235126923

The aim of the proposed project is to test a model of a) early adversity predicting unresolved attachment status with regard to loss - as assessed in the Adult Attachment Interview - in a low-risk sample, and b) impairments in emotion regulation, mentalization, and autobiographical memory functioning mediating the association between early adversity and unresolved loss.Findings that parents' unresolved attachment status predicts attachment disorganization in offspring, and the high proportion of participants classified as unresolved in clinical groups, raise the question of what makes some individuals more vulnerable than others to becoming or remaining unresolved with regard to abuse or loss. The major aim of the proposed project is to identify risk factors for unresolved loss by investigating mechanisms which seem to underlie symptomatology in the disorders most associated with unresolved attachment on the one hand, and indices of unresolved loss on the other. Intrusive memories evident in unresolved loss and in posttraumatic stress disorder hint at dysfunctions of autobiographical memory. Failures to regulate emotions and to think about past experiences and mental states are evident in unresolved loss and in borderline personality disorder. Emotion regulation, mentalization, and autobiographical memory functioning develop in the emotional context of the parent-child relationship, and failures in these three areas have been established as long-term consequences of early adversity. At the same time, these three areas of psychological functioning are involved in the adaptation to the experience of loss. These insights suggest a pathway from early adversity to unresolved loss, which is mediated by impairments in emotion regulation, mentalization and autobiographical memory. The proposed project will test the hypothesized mediation model using a sample with a recent experience of loss.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants