The differential roles of early emotion socialization and adult attachment in adult emotional experience: testing a mediator hypothesis.

The goal of the present study was to model the relations among self-reported early emotion socialization, adult attachment styles, and positive and negative adult emotion experiences in younger (mean age = 28) and older (mean age = 74) adults. Using structural equation modeling, we found that reports of early emotion socialization had both direct and indirect effects (the latter mediated by attachment style) on adult emotional experiences. There was also some support for the expectation that age would interact with emotion socialization in the effect on adult emotions. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding how attachment and emotion relate across the lifespan.