Introduction

Recent theory and research suggest that attachment and mindfulness are related [1, 2], but the nature of this association remains unclear. Ryan and colleagues [3] propose that attachment and mindfulness may be related bi-directionally, whereby attachment security fosters a greater capacity for mindfulness, and higher levels of mindfulness allow individuals to be less adversely affected by the cognitive and affective responses characteristic of insecure attachment. However, this bi-directional association has yet to be investigated empirically. The present research was designed to do this.

Bowlby [4] proposed that humans have a biologically evolved attachment system that motivates infants to seek proximity to stronger and wiser caregivers to protect the infant from harm. When caregivers are available, sensitive, and responsive, an infant is likely to experience feelings of security, whereas infants who do not experience responsive caregiving, adopt secondary, insecure, attachment strategies [5]. Bowlby [4] proposed that the attachment system is active and influential across the lifespan. Attachment in adulthood is commonly conceptualized and measured along the two dimensions of anxiety and avoidance [6]. Attachment anxiety is characterized by an intense fear of rejection and abandonment, and concern about relationships, whereas attachment avoidance reflects a tendency to feel uncomfortable with intimacy and closeness.

Insecure attachment (high attachment anxiety and/or avoidance) has consistently been shown to predict poor psychosocial adjustment, whereas secure attachment (low anxiety and avoidance) contributes to positive psychosocial outcomes, such as increased well-being and relationship satisfaction, and adaptive emotion regulation [5]. Interestingly, Shaver and colleagues [2] and Ryan and colleagues [3] note that mindfulness is also associated with many of the same outcomes.

Mindfulness is commonly defined as “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally” [7] (p. 4). Mindfulness is characterised by perceiving thoughts, feelings, and sensations without suppressing or becoming overwhelmed by them [8]. Individual differences exist in ‘naturally occurring’ mindfulness and the capacity for mindfulness [9]. Like secure attachment, high dispositional mindfulness is associated with a wide range of positive psychosocial outcomes [10], which raises the interesting possibility that mindfulness and attachment security are somehow related.

Several studies have demonstrated an association between low attachment anxiety and avoidance with high mindfulness [1, 2, 11, 12]. Pepping and colleagues [1] found that attachment predicted 18.8% of the variance in mindfulness in non-meditators, and 43.3% of the variance in mindfulness for those with a meditation practice, indicating that attachment and mindfulness are related, though to different degrees based on meditation experience. Ryan and colleagues [3] outlined two possible causal pathways between attachment security and mindfulness. First, there may be a common precursor whereby individuals who have experienced sensitive and responsive caregiving in childhood are likely to develop both a secure attachment style and higher levels of mindfulness. Second, there may be a bi-directional causal relationship between the two variables whereby secure attachment fosters increased mindfulness, and individuals who are more mindful may experience greater felt security, and be more open and receptive to relationship partners.

With regards to the bi-directional, causal relationship, individuals with a secure attachment style should be more able to focus attention on the present moment, without worrying about rejection and abandonment (attachment anxiety), or suppressing, avoiding, or defending against threatening experiences (attachment avoidance) [2]. Thus, individuals with a secure attachment style may have greater capacity to be mindful [2, 3]. On the other hand, people who are dispositionally higher in mindfulness may be less likely to be consumed with thoughts and emotions related to insecure attachment [3], such as fear of abandonment and fear of intimacy. Consistent with this possibility is evidence that a three-month full-time intensive Buddhist meditation program led to reductions in attachment anxiety and avoidance [13]. However, the study examined only very experienced meditators (M = 13 years of experience), and included loving-kindness and compassion-focussed meditations which overlap considerably with attachment security priming [14, 15]. It is therefore difficult to draw conclusions from this study as to the bi-directional association. Based on these considerations, in the present research we specifically did not use meditations that were similar to security priming (e.g., loving-kindness), and we only included participants who did not have meditation experience.

Theoretically, individuals who are more mindful are also likely to have a secure attachment style [1]. However, the question of whether secure attachment fosters higher levels of mindfulness, and vice-versa, remains unanswered. For the purposes of investigating the association between attachment and mindfulness, we used experimental methods to examine whether inducing a mindful state would lead to enhanced state attachment security (Study 1) and whether priming attachment security would lead to increased state mindfulness (Study 2). To examine these associations experimentally, it was necessary to use state measures of attachment and mindfulness, as one would not expect brief experimental manipulations to alter dispositional attachment or mindfulness. Conceptually, state and dispositional measures have much in common. Dispositional measures capture the frequent occurrence of the state under investigation. In addition, for a state measure to be validated, it is expected that the measure would correlate highly with dispositional measures of the same construct, which further attests to the shared commonality between state and dispositional measures.

If enhancing mindfulness leads to enhanced security, this could inform interventions designed to reduce attachment insecurity. Much is known regarding the antecedents and outcomes of attachment insecurity, but less is known regarding how to enhance attachment security [5]. Study 1 investigated whether increasing mindfulness would increase state attachment security. If increasing mindfulness does indeed lead to increased security, this may suggest that further investigation into the utility of mindfulness based interventions to reduce attachment insecurity is warranted.

If enhancing state attachment security leads to increased state mindfulness, this would be one of the first studies to examine predictors of mindfulness, and may suggest that the origins of mindfulness may be related to attachment. To date, much is known about the benefits of mindfulness. However, very little is known regarding the origins of mindfulness. If increasing attachment security leads to increased state mindfulness, this may suggest that future research should examine attachment as one possible precursor to the development of mindfulness. Study 2 therefore investigated whether enhancing state attachment security would increase state mindfulness.

Study 1

Study 1 investigated whether increasing state-mindfulness through an experimental mindfulness induction would increase state attachment security, and decrease state attachment anxiety and avoidance. Past research reveals that brief laboratory based mindfulness inductions lead to short-term, immediate effects on psychosocial outcomes. For instance, Broderick [16] induced dysphoric mood in a sample of 177 undergraduate participants, and then randomly assigned them to either a rumination condition, a distraction condition, or a mindfulness meditation condition. Both distraction and mindfulness meditation were more effective in reducing dysphoric mood compared to rumination. However, mindfulness meditation was most effective. Similarly, Arch and Craske [17] examined the effects of a focussed breathing induction (mindfulness of the breath) versus an unfocussed attention condition, and a worry condition, on negative affect and emotional volatility following the viewing of affectively valenced picture slides. Individuals assigned to the mindful breathing condition reported less negative affect and emotional volatility in response to the pictures, and also exhibited greater willingness to view aversive pictures. Brief experimental mindfulness inductions have also been shown to enhance pain tolerance [18] and state self-esteem [19]. Thus, there is clear evidence that experimentally manipulating state mindfulness can lead to a range of theoretically related outcomes, at least in the short term.

If the relationship between attachment and mindfulness exists because higher mindfulness directly leads to greater felt security through adopting a more open, curious and non-judgmental stance to experiences, including relationships, then increasing state mindfulness experimentally should increase state attachment security, and decrease both state attachment anxiety and avoidance. It is important to note that brief experimental manipulations are very unlikely to shift stable working models of relationships. Only long-term interventions are likely to impact on dispositional attachment. Therefore, the present research focussed on state attachment security, known as felt security, which is “a sense that the world is generally safe, that attachment figures are helpful when called upon, and that it is possible to explore the environment curiously and confidently and to engage rewardingly with other people” [5] (p. 21). Evidence indicates that felt security can be experimentally manipulated [5, 14, 15, 20]. Thus, in the present research, we examined whether enhancing state mindfulness would lead to change in state attachment, as this could inform future research investigating more intensive interventions on more stable characteristics. It was predicted that participants in the mindfulness induction condition would show increases in state attachment security, and decreases in state attachment anxiety and avoidance. No such changes were predicted for the control condition.

Study 2

Study 2 investigated whether enhancing state attachment security through established attachment security priming methods would lead to increased state mindfulness. Temporarily activating mental representations of attachment figures (attachment security priming) provides an individual with the symbolic availability of attachment figures, and enhances an individual’s sense of felt security [5, 14]. Mikulincer and Shaver [15] provide an extensive review of numerous security priming techniques which have successfully activated symbolic representations of attachment figures. Numerous studies have found that by activating felt security, individuals (regardless of their attachment style) tend to behave more like those who are dispositionally secure [14, 20].

Security enhancement reduces negative reactions to out-group members [14], and leads to greater levels of empathy, as opposed to high levels of personal distress (common in attachment anxiety) or suppression or avoidance of emotional content (common in attachment avoidance) [24]. Security priming has also been shown to lead to increases in self-compassion [25]. Thus, there is clear evidence that enhancing state attachment security leads to a range of theoretically relevant outcomes. If the relationship between attachment and mindfulness exists because individuals with a secure attachment style have a greater capacity for mindfulness, then priming secure attachment should lead to increases in state mindfulness. Specifically, if enhancing state security allows individuals to be temporarily less consumed by cognitive and emotional processes associated with attachment insecurity, they may be temporarily better able to maintain mindful attention. That is, they may be less consumed by thoughts or emotions relating to the past, and better able to focus on what is happening immediately in the present. It was therefore predicted that participants in the security priming condition would show increases in state mindfulness. No such changes were predicted for the control condition.

General Discussion

Findings from the present research suggest that there is not a direct, immediate causal association between state attachment security and state mindfulness. Very simply, increasing state security did not lead to increased state mindfulness, nor did increased state mindfulness lead to greater state security. Mindfulness meditation training has consistently led to positive psychological outcomes in both clinical interventions, and when used as an experimental manipulation [23]. In Study 1, evidence that one brief session of mindfulness practice in meditation-naïve students resulted in increased mindfulness but not increased attachment security indicates no direct impact of mindfulness on attachment, at least when examined using very brief experimental manipulations. At first glance this finding seems inconsistent with that of Sahdra and colleagues [13]. However, as noted earlier, the sample in the Sahdra and colleagues [13] research was a group of highly experienced meditators, and the intervention was intensive over a three-month period and used meditations that overlapped conceptually with security priming. It is therefore difficult to compare the present results with this study.

In Study 2, security priming led to increased state attachment security, but not increased state mindfulness, suggesting that the relationship between attachment and mindfulness may not be due to the direct impact of state attachment security on mindfulness. The lack of change in the outcomes in both studies is not due to lack of power. Both studies had adequate power to detect small to moderate effects. The very small effect sizes observed in the outcomes (security and mindfulness; d = .02 for each) are too small to be of theoretical or practical importance. It is important to note that in both studies, the specific experimental tasks (i.e., priming or mindfulness induction) were pre-selected and alternated between sessions so that any effects were not simply due to the specific prime or mindfulness induction that was used. The manipulations were effective in both studies. However, these changes in mindfulness (Study 1) and attachment security (Study 2) did not lead to change in the outcome. A strength of this research is that this lack of change in the respective outcome is unlikely to be due to the lack of effectiveness of one specific prime or mindfulness induction.

Findings of the present research suggest that the relationship between attachment and mindfulness may not be a direct, immediate causal association. Instead, the relationship may be more distal or indirect, and longer-term interventions may be necessary to observe effects. It is also possible that the two variables may be related because they share a common developmental precursor. Much is known about factors that impact on attachment, such as sensitive and responsive caregiving received in childhood [5, 27], but remarkably little is known about factors that impact on mindfulness. Perhaps such sensitive and responsive caregiving fosters not only the development of a secure attachment style, but other positive psychosocial outcomes, including mindfulness.

Ryan and colleagues [3] proposed that individuals who receive sensitive and responsive caregiving that is characterised by love and support for autonomy may be more likely to display higher levels of dispositional mindfulness. Specifically, the development of mindful awareness and capacity for self-observation is “facilitated by providers who can be attuned to, mirror, and resonate with the infant’s experience” [3] (p. 180), whereas individuals who grow up in abusive or rejecting environments may have this capacity for mindful attention impaired [3]. To date, only one study has investigated this proposition empirically. Walsh and colleagues [28] investigated whether parental nurturance predicted individual differences in dispositional mindfulness. Contrary to the authors’ predictions, parental nurturance did not predict mindfulness. However, participants’ experience with mindfulness meditation practice was not assessed, and it is therefore difficult to draw firm conclusions from this study. Specifically, given that experience in mindfulness meditation leads to increases in mindfulness [29], in order to accurately examine predictors of ‘naturally occurring’ dispositional mindfulness, it is necessary to exclude individuals who have engaged in practices that are designed to enhance mindfulness. Given that individuals who have received low parental nurturance during childhood experience cognitive and emotional difficulties [30, 31, 32], it is possible that these difficulties may prompt individuals to pursue mindfulness meditation. However, future research needs to test this proposition empirically.

In addition, the relationship between parenting received in childhood and dispositional mindfulness is likely to be complex, and may be indirect. It is possible that parenting received in childhood that is characterised by sensitivity and warmth may facilitate the development of healthy emotion regulation abilities, which may in turn provide an individual with an enhanced capacity for mindfulness. Much evidence converges to reveal that sensitive and responsive caregiving received in childhood leads to the development of adaptive self-soothing and emotion regulation abilities [30, 31, 32, 33], and these emotion regulation abilities are also associated with both mindfulness [34, 35] and attachment [5, 36]. Thus, it seems plausible that sensitive and responsive caregiving may foster not only secure attachment, but also an enhanced capacity for mindfulness by providing an individual with the necessary self-soothing and emotion regulation abilities. Future research should examine the origins of individual differences in dispositional mindfulness.

As mentioned earlier, it is also possible that the brief nature of the experimental manipulations, although successful at increasing state mindfulness (Study 1) and state attachment security (Study 2), was not sufficient to produce change in the outcome, even when assessed as state variables. Recent evidence indicates that the association between attachment and mindfulness is mediated by emotion regulation processes [11, 37]. Pepping and colleagues [37] found that attachment anxiety and avoidance each predicted low mindfulness, and these associations were fully mediated by difficulties in emotion regulation. Similarly, Caldwell and Shaver [11] found that attachment anxiety predicted low mindfulness, and this association was mediated by rumination and poor attentional control. Attachment avoidance was also associated with low mindfulness, and this association was mediated by thought suppression and poor attentional control. Thus, there is emerging evidence that the association between attachment and mindfulness is indirect. Given this, it is possible that the very brief experimental manipulations in the present research were not sufficient to produce change in the emotion regulation processes that mediate the attachment-mindfulness association, and thus no change in the respective outcome was observed.

It is possible that longer-term mindfulness interventions may lead to change in attachment over time via a state-by-trait process. Specifically, it is possible that, over time, frequent experiences of a mindful state might begin to shape greater trait mindfulness and the associated emotion regulation capacity, which may in turn enhance security. Findings reported by Sahdra and colleagues [13] are certainly consistent with this proposition. However, as mentioned earlier, the nature of the sample and types of meditations limits the extent to which conclusions can be made. The type of mindfulness intervention described by Caldwell and Shaver [38] for women who had experienced unhealthy attachment relationships resulted in decreased rumination and suppression, and increased emotion regulation. Such interventions may, over time, reduce the cognitive and emotional processes associated with attachment insecurity, and thus lead to increased security. Further research exploring the utility and efficacy of long-term mindfulness interventions on attachment security is greatly needed to examine the possibility of state interventions leading to long-term changes in traits. It is also possible that, over time, attachment security may lead to greater mindfulness. Only longitudinal research can definitively address this proposition, but theoretically it seems likely. Such research would also illuminate the potential origins of individual differences in dispositional mindfulness.

Supporting Information