Rumination: Acknowledged Attachment

Numerous individual factors that are characteristic of anxious attachment are also shown to relate to rumination. Rejection sensitivity, for instance, has been associated with rumination and has been shown to predict increased depressive rumination in individuals at a time six months later (Pearson, Watkins, & Mullan, 2011). This is suggested to be because rumination is a response to solve the discrepancy of the realities of rejection and the goal to obtain security in interpersonal relationships. Concern with maintaining close relationships and the belief that one is responsible for the emotional needs of others, as well as feelings of having little control over such situations, is significantly correlated with rumination, with the effect

Due to a history of unreliability from attachment figures, anxiously attached people feel they have very little control over their relational circumstances. This results in an increased need to take over control in the face of unreliable figures and feelings responsible for setting the disposition of the relationship. This is attempted hypervigilant behavior and cognitions such as perseverative thoughts regarding if their partner is happy, over analyzation of the partner’s actions, and prevention of negative intrusions into the relationship. Low emotional intelligence, particularly the inability to perceive of mange emotions, is shown to mediate the relationship between attachment anxiety and rumination (Lanciano, Curci, Kafetsios, Elia, & Zammuner, 2012). This increased amount of individual rumination may be the key factor in understanding the overly negative relationship quality and emotional wellbeing among anxiously attached

The effect on internalizing symptoms will be exacerbated in those high in anxious attachment. Their co-rumination becomes highly ruminative, overriding the potentially positive effects of self-disclosure with a friend. Instead they are increasingly likely to focus on the negative emotions, exacerbating those feelings, and failing to come up with productive solutions to their dilemmas. As is common in rumination, anxious individuals amplify the negative aspects of their distress, making their problems appear overwhelming (Burnette et al., 2009). They are also more likely to readily perceive threat and intensify their emotions in response (Millings et al., 2016). These features support that anxious attached individuals are prone to ruminate about perceived threat, as rumination serves the function of keeping unresolved threat in one’s awareness to prepare for necessary action (Brosschot, Gerin, & Thayer, 2006). This excessive rumination would lead to an amplified increase of internalyzing system following co-rumination for anxiously attached individuals. As for relationship quality, anxiously attached individuals are naturally insecure about the quality of their relationships. Rather than co-rumination enhancing social support and intimacy, anxiously attached individuals