Personality affects health, say Acadia researchers
By KELLY SHIERS Staff Reporter
Sun, Aug 1 - 4:53 AM
So you gave up smoking, took up exercise and watched your diet. Now new research suggests adding one more thing to your prescription for good health: Stop feeling so insecure about your relationships.
Researchers at Acadia University say people who are needy, worry about rejection and don’t think they’re all that lovable may face a greater risk for several chronic health conditions, including heart attacks, strokes, ulcers and high blood pressure.
"There’s a lot of research indicating there’s things you can do to improve your health: lowering fat intake, lowering cholesterol, quitting smoking — these sorts of things," said lead researcher Lachlan McWilliams, a clinical psychologist and Acadia University professor.
"This research suggests that doing things to improve your relationships and your perspective on them might also be something that’s helpful as a preventative strategy."
In a recent interview, McWilliams said he believes the research is the first of its kind to study the connection between those who feel insecure attachment and the risk of developing some chronic diseases. In the past, insecure attachment has most often been associated with chronic-pain conditions like headaches or back problems.
"I think previous research was more about subjective things. If you say ‘Do you have severe and frequent headaches?’ The headaches aren’t subjective but whether you classify them as frequent or severe is subjective. Do you have intense back pain? Well, back pain is real, how intense it is, is subjective," the psychologist said.
"Whether or not you’ve had a heart attack or stroke, those sorts of things are far less subjective. . . . They’re a lot more concrete."
And since those conditions are also connected with mortality that partly explains why the findings — released this month by the American Psychological Association — has piqued interest from around the world, he said.
For their study, McWilliams and Jeffrey Bailey analyzed data from 5,645 adults, aged 18 to 60, who described themselves as having secure, avoidant or anxious relationship attachments.
Secure attachment refers to those people who feel able to get close to others and have others depend on them, while those who don’t trust others and have difficulties getting close to others have avoidant attachment, McWilliams said.
Those who worry about rejection, feel needy and have a sense that others don’t want to get close to them have anxious attachment.
After looking at the participants’ medical data, the researchers concluded that avoidant attachments were associated with pain-related conditions including headaches and arthritis.
Anxious attachment was associated with a wider range of conditions, including some pain-related conditions and a greater risk of other conditions, including cardiovascular problems.
McWilliams said attachment behaviours are rooted in childhood experiences where "how people respond to you is thought to shape your belief about yourself and others," he said.
"If your parents are quite responsive and don’t go overboard in their responsiveness, you tend to see yourself as a capable person and other people as trustworthy and helpful. You see yourself and the world in a good way and act accordingly.
"If your parents are too intrusive or just ignore you, or they are inconsistent, you develop insecure attachment. You start to see yourself and other people in these insecure ways."
( kshiers@herald.ca)
From the chronicle herald.ca published on Sun, Aug 1 - 4:53 AM