%0 Journal Article
%T Adult attachment orientations, depressive symptoms, anger, and self-directed aggression by psychiatric patients
%J Cognitive therapy and research
%D 2010
%A Gormley, B.
%A McNiel, D.E.
%V 34
%N 3
%P 272-281
%X This study applied adult attachment theory to better understand self-directed aggression, defined as suicide attempts and nonsuicidal self-injury, reported by 109 hospitalized psychiatric patients. As expected, patients with higher levels of adult attachment anxiety were more likely to report suicide attempts and self-injury. We tested depressive symptoms and anger as mediators of the relationship between attachment orientations and self-directed aggression. As hypothesized, depressive symptoms partially mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and self-directed aggression, but unexpectedly, anger did not. The results support that levels of depression partially explain the associations between attachment anxiety and self-directed aggression. Subsidiary analyses suggested that patients with higher levels of adult attachment avoidance were more likely to report histories of nonsuicidal self-injury but not suicide attempts. Implications for research and practice are discussed. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.<p /><p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group
%@ 0147-5916
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10608-009-9267-5