Abstract

This study investigated the effect of early parental attachment on interpersonal problems through the mediation of self-emotional recognition and emotional regulation in adulthood. Data were collected from 265 adults using questionnaires. We used bootstrapping techniques from Hayes' PROCESS macro program to estimate the hypothesized serial mediation. Insecure parental attachment was significantly associated with emotion recognition, both of which were in turn related to emotion regulation, and subsequently to interpersonal problems. Specifically, emotion recognition and regulation fully mediate the relationship between anxiety-ambivalent attachment and independent interpersonal problems. Otherwise, emotion recognition and regulation fully mediate the relationship between avoidant attachment and dependent interpersonal problems. These results suggest that different types of insecure parental attachment have different effects on interpersonal problems in adulthood.