Concern: A Comparative Look.

The concept of concern has received very little attention in the psychoanalytic literature. Aside from Winnicott's "The Development of the Capacity for Concern" (1963), based on Kleinian approach, the subject has scarcely been addressed from an empirical or theoretical standpoint. Here an attempt is made to consider the concept from the perspective of 2 object relations theories that have come out against the classical approach: attachment theory and Suttie's theory. The paper also looks at Winnicott's thinking on the subject, from association with guilt to association with joy, as well as the association with intersubjective approaches. There follows a discussion of 4 points: motivation, nature versus nurture, time of appearance, and the object. Finally, several points are raised regarding related interpersonal and intrapersonal issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The sense of entitlement in romantic relationships—Scale construction, factor structure, construct validity, and its associations with attachment orientations.

Based on clinical evidence and theoretical writings that pointed to the importance and uniqueness of the sense of entitlement in couple relationships, two studies were designed to develop and validate the Sense of Relational Entitlement (SRE) scale. A factor analysis performed on the scale's items yielded five factors that identified three basic entitlement-related attitudes toward a romantic partner. Findings indicated that both exaggerated and restricted forms of relational entitlement seem to be maladaptive and put people at risk for emotional problems. Findings also indicated that excessive and restricted forms of relational entitlement were significantly associated with attachment insecurities. In addition, the SRE scale was found to tap a unique psychological construct that moderately overlapped with constructs of narcissism and global entitlement. The discussion focuses on the developmental and psychodynamic sources of the sense of relational entitlement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment styles and fear of personal death: A case study of affect regulation.

The relation between attachment styles and fear of personal death was assessed. We classified a sample of Israeli undergraduate students into secure, ambivalent, and avoidant attachment groups and assessed the extent of, and the meaning attached to, overt fear of personal death as well as the extent of fear at a low level of awareness. Ambivalent subjects exhibited stronger overt fear of death than did secure and avoidant subjects, and both ambivalent and avoidant subjects showed stronger fear of death at a low level of awareness than secure subjects. Ambivalent subjects were also more likely to fear the loss of their social identity in death, and avoidant subjects were more likely to fear the unknown nature of their death. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of attachment styles on affect regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)