Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• zahra motlagh ¹
• Mahdi Khanjani ²
• Adel Bazram ³

¹ MSc Student of General Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran.

² Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, Allameh Tabataba’i University

³ MSc in General Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Interpersonal distance is one of the important variables in social interactions that has attracted the attention of researchers. The current study was aimed to predict interpersonal distance regulation based on childhood trauma experiences considering the mediating role of attachment styles. In this research, correlational design based on structural equation modeling, Sobel test and independent t test was adopted to investigate the suggested relationships between the variables. The statistical population included students of Allameh Tabataba'i University of Tehran, 267 university students were selected through convenience sampling. All participants completed childhood trauma questionnaire (Bernstein et al, 2003), adult attachment style questionnaire (Hazan and Shaver,1987) and comfortable interpersonal distance (CID) task adapted from Abdevali & Zabihzadeh`s study (2021).while the results confirmed the suggested model, which consisted of predicting interpersonal distance based on childhood trauma experiences considering the mediating role of attachment styles, indicated the direct effect of childhood trauma on larger interpersonal distance regulation, secure and insecure avoidant attachment styles and also the direct effect of secure attachment styles on smaller interpersonal distance regulation, and the direct effect of insecure avoidant attachment styles on larger interpersonal distance regulation. It seems that childhood trauma can determine the attachment styles, and the attachment styles through the internal working model can affect the interpersonal distance regulation in adult social relationships with different people.

Keywords

• childhood trauma
• internal working model
• interpersonal distance regulation
• attachment styles

Main Subjects

• Psychology