Emotional Regulation Capacities: How Attachment Relationships Play a Role

Background and Purpose: Over the last 10 to 20 years, researchers have noted that individuals who commit sexual offenses (ISOs) struggle with emotional regulation (Keiley, Zaremba-Morgan, Datubo-Brown, Pyle, & Cox, 2015; Nguyen & Parkhill, 2014; Ward & Hudson, 2000) and “that deficient regulation of emotional states may represent causal factors in pathways to sexual offending” (Gillespie, Mitchell, Fisher, & Beech, 2012, p. 334). Although the majority of intervention programs for ISOs focus on issues of emotional regulation there is little attention paid to the potential origins of this deficit area both in the literature and in practice. There now exists a robust body of literature documenting the strong relationship between emotional dysregulation and insecure attachments in multiple populations (e.g., Bender et al., 2015; Goodall, 2015; Malik, Well, & Wittkowski, 2015). However, this literature does not include adult ISOs. It is essential to explore this relationship empirically as well as theoretically in order to provide guidance to clinicians who plan and deliver intervention programs.  This study’s purpose was to examine the relationship between attachment styles and emotional regulation capacities among a sample of incarcerated adult male ISOs. The research question was, to what extent does attachment style relate to emotional regulation in adult ISOs?

Methods: Using a cross-sectional survey design, 59 incarcerated adult male ISOs were surveyed about their attachment styles and emotional regulation capacities. Attachment styles were measured using the Relationship Scales Questionnaire (RSQ; Griffin & Bartholomew, 1994) and the Adult Attachment Scale (AAS; Collins & Read, 1990). Emotion regulation capacities were measured using the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz & Roemer, 2004).

Bivariate correlation analyses and multiple regression were used to assess the overall research question.

Findings: The results demonstrate that on both attachment measures, when ISOs are more secure, they identify fewer struggles with emotion dysregulation. In addition, the ISOs who were less anxiously attached (more secure) on the RSQ were more accepting of their emotional states, able to stay focused on their goals, able to remain in control and manage their behaviors, and have confidence in their abilities to effectively use emotion regulation strategies. Also, those individuals who were more comfortable with closeness (more secure) on the AAS identified stronger emotion regulation capacities, specifically around goals, emotional clarity, and accessing emotion regulation strategies.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings of this study have several implications related to prevention, intervention, criminal justice policy, as well as future research. The presentation will outline different concrete steps that practitioners and policy makers can implement to improve services and policies for ISOs based on this research, including the use of the therapeutic relationship, attachment-based interventions, primary prevention strategies aimed at early intervention programs, and infusing trauma-informed care principles into how services are delivered. Policies should consider the way in which they perpetuate insecure attachments among ISOs and discuss more effective alternatives that promote secure attachments and more effective emotion regulation capacities. Future research directions will also be discussed.