Abstract
Objective: The current research was intended to explore the effects of insecure attachment styles on anxiety symptoms in young adults and to test the mediating role of emotional dysregulation.
Study design: A cross-sectional research design was employed.
Place and duration of study: The current study was conducted from November 2025 to Feb 2026 at different colleges and universities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Material and Methods: The cross-sectional research was conducted to examine the relationship between study variables among young adults. The sample consisted of 400 participants, including both male and female, taken from public and private universities in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, through convenience sampling. The age range of the participants were 18 to 25 years. The Revised Adult Attachment Scale, the Emotional Dysregulation Scale and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) were used to collect data. SPSS, Version 25 was applied to analyze and interpret the data in statistical terminology.
Results: The results indicated that the attachment anxiety subscale had a significant and positive correlation with anxiety symptoms (r =.410, p <. 01) and emotional dysregulation (r =.494, p <. 01). Equally, the depend subscale had a significant negative relationship with anxiety symptoms (r = -.211, p < .01) and emotional dysregulation (r = -.276, p <. 01) Close subscale showed an insignificant negative correlation with the anxiety symptoms (r = -.049, p >.05) and positive association with emotional dysregulation (r =.065, p <. 01). Furthermore, indirect impact via emotional dysregulation was found to be significant (β = 1.96, SE = 0.39, 95% CI [1.22, 2.74]), which means that emotional dysregulation completely mediates the relation between insecure attachment and anxiety symptoms.
Conclusion: The research emphasizes the significance of treating emotional regulation issues in people with insecure attachment in order to lessen anxiety symptoms. These results bring to light significant implications of the psychological interventions and further studies.
Keywords: Attachment Styles; Anxiety Symptoms; Emotional Dysregulation; Young Adults
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