Attachment styles and Death anxiety: the mediation role of Emotion regulation difficulty

the present study aimed to investigate the role of attachment styles in death anxiety with the mediating role of emotion regulation difficulty.

The statistical population consisted of adults over 18 years old, of whom 230 were selected as the sample by Convenience Sampling method. Hazen and Shaver adult attachment questionnaire, Templer death anxiety questionnaire (DA), and Gratz and Roemer emotion difficulty questionnaire (DERS) were used for data collection. Data analysis was performed using Pearson correlation coefficient and path analysis.

The results of Pearson correlation showed that secure attachment style had a negative and significant relation with emotion regulation difficulty (p<0.01), but ambivalent and avoidant attachment styles had a positive and significant relation with emotion regulation difficulty (p<0.001). The results of path analysis displayed that emotion regulation difficulty plays a significant mediating role in the relation between secure and ambivalent attachment styles with death anxiety.

Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that attachment styles affect death anxiety through emotion regulation difficulty.