ArticlePsychology and psychotherapy2026
Attachment insecurity and psychological (mal)adjustment in older adults: The longitudinal role of fear of self-compassion.
Article in Psychology and psychotherapy, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
objectivesInsecure attachment has been suggested to precede and perpetuate fear of self-compassion, with a negative impact on mental health. However, this evidence was obtained using general-age samples and cross-sectional designs. Our objective was to, in an older adult sample, analyse longitudinally the indirect effect of fear of self-compassion in the relationship between attachment insecurity and psychological (mal)adjustment, controlling for negative life events.
designOur study consisted of a repeated-measures design based on three data assessment moments across 6 months. Participants were 147 Portuguese community-resident older adults.
methodsWe conducted path analyses to test two models. Model A had attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance as independent variables, fear of self-compassion as mediator and depressive symptoms and quality of life as dependent variables. Model B consisted of a respecified Model A with negative life events added as covariate.
resultsAttachment anxiety and attachment avoidance predicted increased depressive symptoms fully through increased fear of self-compassion. Attachment anxiety also predicted decreased quality of life partially through increased fear of self-compassion. These mediation effects remained significant when negative life events were controlled for.
conclusionsIn older adults, attachment insecurity underlies the fear of being self-compassionate, which, in turn, leads to increased depressive symptoms and poorer quality of life over time. Fear of self-compassion, therefore, should be taken into consideration when conducting research and/or intervention in this age-group.
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