1:a studien att undersöka relationen mellan anknytning och religion-andlighet bland vuxna genom att använda AAI
Hypotesen att religion gick efter social, och andlighet via emotional kompensation
This study was the first to examine relations between attachment and religion–spirituality in adults using a developmentally validated attachment assessment, the Adult Attachment Interview. Security of attachment was expected to be linked to a religiosity–spirituality that is socially based on the parental relationships and reflects extrapolation of attachment experiences with sensitive parents to perceived relationships with a loving God. Insecurity of attachment was expected to be related to religiosity– spirituality via emotional compensation for states of insecurity. Participants (N 84; 40% men; mean age 29 years) were drawn from religious–spiritual groups. Religiousness–spirituality was assessed with questionnaires. Results generally supported the hypotheses (ps .05). Estimates of parental loving were linked to socially based religiosity, loving God images, and gradual religious changes occurring at early ages and in life contexts indicating a positive influence of close relationships. Estimates of parental rejection and role reversal were related to New Age spirituality and sudden–intense religious changes occurring in life contexts of turmoil. Current attachment state of mind was generally unrelated to traditional religiosity, but current preoccupation, unresolved–disorganized, and cannot classify states were associated with New Age spirituality.
Estimates of parental loving were linked to socially based religiosity, loving God images, and gradual religious changes occurring at early ages and in life contexts indicating a positive influence of close relationships. Estimates of parental rejection and role reversal were related to New Age spirituality and sudden–intense religious changes occurring in life contexts of turmoil.
What are the ontogenetic foundations involved in the development of an individual’s religiosity and spirituality? Beginning with James (1902) and Freud (1927/1964), there has been a longstanding interest in processes emanating from children’s relationship with primary caregivers that influence the development of religiosity.
We also examined whether religiosity–spirituality is best predicted by a coder’s estimates of probable experiences with parents in childhood or by current state of mind regarding attachment.
. Individual differences in IWMs underlie the organization of attachment behaviors in small children and linguistic processes regarding attachment in adults.
According to Kirkpatrick (2005; Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, in press), believers’ perceived rela
tionships with God meet the most important criteria for defining attachment relationships. These include seeking closeness to God in prayer and rituals, using God as a safe haven during distress, and using God as a secure base for exploring the environment.
First, he formulated a correspondence hypothesis concerning relations between individuals’ IWMs of self–others and their perceived relationships with and images of God (IWM correspondence; see Bowlby, 1973, 1980). Through the operation of generalized IWMs, individuals with secure attachments were hypothesized to form relationships with a God perceived as loving and caring, whereas individuals with insecure attachments were expected either to not form a relationship with God or to perceive God as, for example, distant.
. This idea has been supportedby,forinstance,cross-culturalresearchshowingthatGodis construed as more loving in cultures in which parenting is warm– accepting and more distant in cultures marked by rejecting parenting (e.g., Rohner, 1986).
it was suggested that the religious beliefs and behaviors of those who have formed secure attachments partly reflect the adoption of their sensitive attachment figure’s own religious standards, whereas those with insecure attachments were hypothesized to be relatively less likely to adopt their more insensitive attachment figure’s religious standards (social correspondence; Granqvist, 2002). This additional suggestion has been supported within numerous studies showing that parental religiosity is more similar to the religiosity of offspring with more favorable parental relationships than it is to the religiosity of offspring with less favorable parental relationships (e.g., Spilka et al., 2003)
Second, Kirkpatrick (2005) suggested that the perceived God relationship serves a “surrogate attachment” function (relatedly, see Ainsworth,1985)thathelpsinsecurelyattachedindividualsobtainasense of felt security,
In addition, individuals reporting secure attachment have been found unlikely to experience major fluctuations in religiousness over time
Moreover, in support of IWM correspondence, the God image of individuals reporting secure attachment has been found to be loving and caring (Kirkpatrick, 1998; Kirkpatrick & Shaver, 1992). This profile of religious individuals resembles James’s (1902) description of the “once-born” religion of “healthy-minded” individuals (Granqvist, 2003).
In contrast to the stable and loving God image described above, the God image of individuals reporting an insecure attachment has been found to be comparatively more distant and unstable (e.g., Kirkpatrick, 1998). Findings pertaining to the compensation hypothesis have indicated that the religiosity of these individuals fluctuates more over time and shows a disproportionately high rate of sudden conversions (e.g., Granqvist, 2002; Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2004). For these individuals, religious changes have also been found to be relatively sudden and intense and to be embedded in a life context (e.g., of relationship problems, separations, losses, and crises) pointing to the need for emotional support (e.g., Granqvist & Hagekull, 1999, 2003). This religious profile is similar to James’s (1902) description of the “twice-born” religiosity of “sick souls” (Granqvist, 2003).
A consistent finding from these studies is that selfreported parental attachment history is more strongly linked to religiosity–spirituality than is self-reported romantic attachment, which has led to a suggestion that the hypotheses should primarily refer to child–parent attachment (Granqvist, 2002; Granqvist & Hagekull, 2001).3
AAI methodology differs from self-report assessment in that, in assigning ratings and classifications, it does not take participant responses (content) at face value, but instead relies on an evaluation of the coherence (form) of attachment discourse. It is probably therefore more suited to tap what Bowlby (1973, 1980) referred to as the multiplicity of models (i.e., structural incoherency) that characterizesindividualswithaninsecureattachmentorganization
In support of the correspondence hypothesis, we found that estimated experiences with loving parents were linked to a socially based religiosity (social correspondence), to a loving God image
In support of the compensation hypothesis, we found that estimated experiences with insensitive (rejecting and/or role-reversing) parents were associated with the adoption of New Age-related beliefs and activities and with sudden religious changes during life situations of emotional turmoil. Overall, the study conceptually replicated and extended previous findings obtained via questionnaires on attachment and religiosity–spirituality, by utilizing a developmentally validated measure of attachment.
A notable finding was that estimated experiences with one’s mother, but not one’s father, were linked to a loving God image and themes of correspondence.
God image primarily taps into IWM aspects of attachment, as do some themes of correspondence. Given that a mother is the primary attachment figure for most children, the relationship with her should be more powerful in shaping the individual’s IWMs. Thus, although God is often described in paternal terms (e.g., the Father), maternal attributes (i.e., a mother’s sensitivity) seem to be more important for the individual’s construction of the deity (Kirkpatrick, 2005). The other aspect of correspondence (i.e., religiosity as socially based) received as much support in relation to experiences with a father. This finding is consistent with previous studies (Granqvist, 2002; Granqvist & Hagekull, 1999) and seems to have ecological validity in that fathers have been speculated to be as important as mothers in defining the central values of the family to be transmitted to the next generation (see Hagekull & Bohlin, 1998).
Regarding disorganization, childhood abuse, a robust precursor of disorganization (Main & Morgan, 1996), has been associated with nontheistic forms of paranormal and related experiences (Eisen&Carlson,1998;Reinert&Smith,1997).Also,Georgeand Solomon (1999) have reported that mothers classified as disorganized attributed supernatural powers to their offspring (e.g., psychic power, special connection with the deceased). Moreover, there are striking resemblances between New Age beliefs and unresolved states in the AAI (e.g., personal contact with the dead, alleged spiritual possession by abusive perpetrators).
“Llikheter mellan unresolved states och New age!”
An explanation, extrapolated from Hesse and van IJzendoorn’s (1999) study, for why these particular spirituality characteristics are associated with disorganized states could be a propensity to
enter into dissociative–absorbing mental states, where the individual’s attentional processes are temporarily broken down, resulting in a mental state shift. In the case of attachment, disorganization in infancy (Carlson, 1998) and adulthood (Hesse & van IJzendoorn, 1999) has been shown predictive of such shifts. Unlike traditional religiosity, New Age orientation also has been predictive of such state shifts (Granqvist et al., 2005). Hence, we tentatively suggest that the relation between disorganized attachment and New Age orientation may be mediated by a propensity to enter dissociative– absorbing states. Similarly, it may be that disorganization is overrepresented in members of traditional religions who undergo mindaltering experiences (e.g., mystical or “trance” states) and that dissociation–absorption also mediates this presumed link.
Också religion som innehåller “mind shifting exp”…
Regarding preoccupation, in a pilot study of 6-year-olds, Main (1991) reported indices of difficulties understanding the privacy of thought (cf. telepathy) as well as belief in nontheistic paranormal phenomena in ambivalent children (i.e., the conceptual counterpart of preoccupied adults). Also, there are notable resemblances between New Age phenomena and preoccupied speech in the AAI (e.g., the use of psychobabble). In fact, the expressions of some of the popular psychology literature associated with the New Age (e.g., on toxic parenting, dysfunctional families) have been directly echoed in the transcripts of some preoccupied interviewees (Main et al., 2003). Hence, besides being receptive to the paranormal beliefs and difficulties understanding the privacy of thought, the New Age movement may allow the preoccupied adult to directly express his or her preoccupation with parental failings. Just as experiences from inconsistent and role-reversing parenting lead to preoccupation with attachment, the New Age movement is hypothesized to attract preoccupied individuals by sanctioning their beliefs and encouraging their expression of preoccupation.
Therefore, the New Age movement could be assumed to be more culturally disconnected in this countrythanitisincountriesmarkedbyahigherdegreeofcultural heterogeneity (e.g., the United States, the United Kingdom). If that were the case, deviance from cultural norms could be an alternative explanation for the relations obtained between New Age orientation and disorganized and preoccupied states. However, recent findings from the World Values Survey indicate that New Age-related beliefs are more common in Sweden than in almost any other Western country, including the United Kingdom and the United States (Houtman & Aupers, in press