The mediating role of metacognition in the relationship between adult attachment style and worry

Abstract

Attachment style has been linked to various negative outcomes in the past, but the present investigation looks to metacognition as the specific mechanism explaining the relationship between attachment and a particular maladaptive cognitive mechanism, pathological worry in a sample of 299 non-clinical adults. Insecure attachment style was associated with increased levels of pathological worry and metacognitive beliefs. Metacognitive constructs fully mediated the relationship between attachment style and pathological worry, and furthermore fully mediated the relationship between the Anxious attachment dimension and worry, while partially mediating the relationship between the Avoidant attachment dimension and worry. The differences in metacognitive beliefs between the two attachment dimensions may reflect different cognitive and metacognitive internal working models about the self and other. Implications and future directions are discussed.