Smyrna Agib, M.A. Clinical Psychology Psy.D. Student

California Northstate University, College of Psychology

Dissertation Title: Attachment-based representations of God: Understanding faith formation through attachment styles to inform religious coping

Description: As social creatures, satisfying close relationships are often an important source of happiness for many individuals (Bartholomew, 1990). These relationships, known as attachment, are defined as a strong desire to seek and maintain closeness with a specific figure, who is perceived to be a trusted, safe, and secure individual. The quality of these early attachments is therefore dependent on how much the infant came to rely on the caregiver as a source of security. Researchers suggest that these early attachments provide an internal working model for an individual’s image of self and image of others, which underlie their capacity for future affectionate, attachment bonds in various relationships spanning well into adulthood (Bartholomew, 1990; Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991; Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2013). Bowlby (1982) argued that when the “natural” object of attachment, a caregiver, is perceived to be unavailable, individuals may then direct their attachments to a substitute object – an attachment surrogate. Furthermore, as children develop their capacity for symbolic thinking, they can imagine unseen figures (i.e., imaginary friends) who may become an attachment surrogate (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2013). Typically, these unseen figures are not taken seriously by adults, and their importance tends to fade over time. However, deities, such as God, are one clear exception as they are repeatedly treated with respect throughout history and within most cultures (Rizzuto, 1979). Spirituality and religion have been shown through numerous studies to have positive influences in several areas of an individual’s life related to mental health, including well-being, distress, life satisfaction, and quality of life (Garssen et al., 2021).

Using attachment, or one’s relationship with their parents, to understand the underpinnings of people’s God images is not new; there is considerable research to support that individuals relate to religion and God in a similar way they relate to attachment figures (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2013; Rizzuto, 1979; Zarzycka, 2018). For example, Zarzycka (2018) found parental attachments to be significant predictors of religious and spiritual struggles, with avoidant and anxious attachments predicting greater perceived strain in one’s relationship with God. They also found that those with an avoidant attachment were more likely to possess an image of God that was distant and cruel, which predicted interpersonal struggles, concerns regarding meaning in life, and more negative emotions towards God. These representations of God have been demonstrated to have strong associations with self-concept and neuroticism, with this representation being a mediating factor in the association between religiosity and psychological well-being (Stulp et al., 2019).

Bartholomew and Horowitz (1991) proposed a four-group attachment model based upon Bowlby’s original work, which conceptualizes adult attachment styles as combinations of an individual’s self-image (positive or negative) and their image of others (positive or negative). This model may offer a useful framework in understanding how individuals construct images of God, which, therefore, may inform faith. For example, securely attached individuals with a positive self-image and others may also have a positive image of God, whereas those with insecure attachment styles may project these negative images of self and/or others onto God. These insights suggest that understanding a person’s attachment style could offer meaningful context for how they relate to spirituality and inform therapeutic approaches that incorporate religious coping.