CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 23Attachment and Relationship DynamicsIdentity, Memory, and TherapyPsychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research

Meaning through attachment: an integrative framework

Open access
Dewitte, Laura, Granqvist, Pehr, Dezutter, Jessie·2019·Psychological Reports
DOI 10.1177/0033294118799739
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

We propose an integrative framework, advancing attachment as a vital factor in the development and maintenance of meaning throughout life. First, early attachment experiences provide a foundation for recognizing patterns and acquiring a sense of order and coherence. Furthermore, interactions with sensitive attachment figures stimulate mentalization capacities and exploration of the inner and outer environment, enabling the formation of complex representations of self, others, and the world, ultimately also molding how individuals appraise meaning in their lives. Second, attachment security can serve as an enduring and powerful resource for handling threats to meaning. When confronted with disruptions to meaning, secure attachment provides a coherent set of representations to fall back on and maintain or regain a firm sense of order and meaning under challenging circumstances. Moreover, by promoting cognitive openness and tolerance of ambiguity, secure attachment facilitates flexible and realistic adjustment of meaning representations when encountering discrepant information.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1177/0033294118799739

Cites

79 of 79 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Attachment theory mentions that satisfying relationships with attachment figures provide a sense of order and coherence, which are the main components of the presence of meaning in life.

    “Attachment theory mentions that satisfying relationships with the attachment figures provide a sense of order and coherence, which are the main components of the presence of meaning in life (Martela and Steger, 2016; Dewitte et al., 2019; Li et al., 2021b).”

    From Mediator role of presence of meaning and self-esteem in the relationship of social support and death anxiety (2022) · cites this paper as Dewitte et al., 2019

    The paper’s Abstract and “From working models to meaning in life” section say attachment experiences can foster order and coherence, and “Concluding remarks” says secure relationships may help shape a coherent life narrative. But the paper identifies coherence as one of three components of meaning in life, alongside purpose and significance; it does not identify order and coherence as the main components. No page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. [5]5. Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Clinical applications of attachment theory. New York, NY: Routledge
  2. [10]10. Cassidy, J., & Shaver, P. R. (2016). Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press
  3. [16]16. Festinger, L. (1962). A theory of cognitive dissonance (Vol. 2). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
  4. [43]43. Marris, P. (1991). The social construction of uncertainty. In C. M. Parkes, Stevenson-Hinde, J., & Marris, P (Ed.), Attachment across the life cycle (pp. 77-90). London: Routledge.
  5. [56]56. Piaget, J. (1936). La naissance de l'intelligence chez l'enfant (2nd ed.). Neuchâtel: Delachaux et Niestlé.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Dewitte, L., Granqvist, P., & Dezutter, J.
Affiliations
  • Research Foundation - Flanders (BE)
  • Stockholm University (SE)
  • KU Leuven (BE)
Corresponding author
Dewitte, Laura
ORCID
Venue
Psychological Reports
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2018-09-14
Volume
122
Issue
6
Pages
2242-2265
ISSN
  • 0033-2941 (ISSN-L)
  • 1558-691X
DOI
10.1177/0033294118799739
OpenAlex
W2891306479
Cited by
23
References
79
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1
FWCI
1.02
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Psychological Reports (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Lirias (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (1109417N)
  • John Templeton Foundation (51897)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
Keywords
attachment, meaning in life, attachment security, mentalization, self-representation, coherence, cognitive flexibility, ambiguity tolerance, attachment figures, meaning maintenance
MeSH terms
Emotional Adjustment, Mentalization, Adult, Child, Humans, Human Development, Interpersonal Relations, Object Attachment, Psychological Theory, Self Concept, Social Adjustment

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review