Borderline personality mediates the link between attachment insecurities and subjective working memory deficits: The role of pre‐emptive and post‐emptive strategies
Borderline personality mediates the link between attachment insecurities and subjective working memory deficits: The role of pre‐emptive and post‐emptive strategies
StatusPost-Print
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Authors
Ecer, Emrullah
Gąsiorowska, Agata
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Date
2026
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British Journal of Psychology
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Volume
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1-22
ISSN
0007-1269
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Access date
2027-01-20
Abstract PL
Abstract EN
Individuals with attachment insecurities, particularly attachment anxiety, often report subjective working memory deficits (SWMD). However, the psychological mechanisms underlying this relationship remain poorly understood. In this project, we propose that borderline personality disorder (BPD) features help explain this link. We tested this model across three studies, including one preregistered study, conducted with Russian, Turkish, and Polish samples. In Study 1, both attachment anxiety and avoidance predicted SWMD, with the former effect being stronger than the latter. The indirect effects of attachment anxiety and avoidance on SWMD via BPD were significant, with the former effect being stronger as the latter. Study 2 introduced gaze anxiety as an additional mediator, revealing that attachment avoidance had stronger indirect effects via gaze anxiety, a potential pre-emptive strategy, while attachment anxiety's effect was stronger via BPD, a potential post-emptive pathway. In preregistered Study 3, reflective functioning mediated the associations between attachment insecurities and SWMD, contrary to our moderation hypothesis. Importantly, relationships between attachment anxiety and SWMD remained robust after controlling for personality traits and personality disorders. Results are consistent with the role of different regulatory strategies in explaining how attachment insecurities contribute to subjective cognitive difficulties.
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Keywords PL
Keywords EN
attachment anxiety
attachment avoidance
borderline personality symptoms
personality traits
subjective working memory deficits
attachment avoidance
borderline personality symptoms
personality traits
subjective working memory deficits
Keywords other
Sustainable Development Goals
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