The instrumental role of emotion regulation in the relationship between attachment style and the level of anxiety in adult individuals

In this study, the relationship between attachment style and anxiety level in adults and the mediating role of emotion regulation in this relationship were investigated. The study group of the research consisted of a total of 368 people, 308 women and 69 men, between the ages of 18-60, randomly selected online. The data was collected electronic environment using the "Google Forms" application. During the data collection phase, the Socio-demographic Information Form was used, the Difficulty in Emotion Regulation Scale was used to measure the difficulty in emotion regulation, and the Beck Anxiety Inventory was used to measure the level of anxiety. Three Dimensional Attachment Styles Scale was applied to determine attachment styles. According to the findings, there was a negative correlation between secure attachment style scores and anxiety level, and a positive correlation between anxious-ambivalent attachment style and avoidant attachment style scores and anxiety level. It was found that as the secure attachment style score of adult individuals increased, there was a decrease in the anxiety score and an increase in the difficulty in emotion regulation score. It was concluded that the emotional dysregulation scores of adults can be predicted by looking at their secure attachment style scores, while their anxiety scores are not predictable by looking at their secure attachment style scores, and their anxiety level can be predicted by looking at their emotion regulation difficulty. It was concluded that the difficulty in emotion regulation, which is considered as a mediator variable, has a full mediating effect on the relationship between attachment and anxiety level, and that the relationship between attachment style and anxiety level is achieved through emotion regulation difficulty.