The Mediating Role of Shame and Self-criticism in the Relationship Between Attachment Styles and Severity of Depressive Symptoms

Objectives Depression is the fourth major cause of disease burden in the world, which alone accounts for the largest share of non-fatal disease burden. The present study was done to investigate the mediating role of shame and self-criticism in the relationship between attachment styles and the severity of depression symptoms. Methods The current research design was descriptive and structural equation modeling. The statistical population of the current study was all people in the age range of 18 to 47 years in Tehran in 2022. The research sample consisted of 212 people who were selected using the available sampling method. In order to collect data, Beck’s Depression Questionnaire, Hazen and Shaver’s Attachment Styles Questionnaire, Tangeni et al.’s Shame Questionnaire, and Thompson, and Zaroff’s Critical Levels Questionnaire were used. For the statistical analysis of the data, structural equation modeling using Lisrel 8/8 software was used. Results The results of data analysis showed a positive and significant relationship between anxious-avoidant attachment styles (r=0.62; p<0.01) and anxious-ambivalent (r=0.51; p<0.01) and the severity of depression symptoms, shame and the severity of depression (r=0.75; p<0.01), and self-criticism and the severity of depression (r=0.45; p<0.01). Also, the anxious-avoidant insecure attachment path and the anxious-ambivalent insecure attachment path showed a significant relationship with the severity of depression symptoms with the mediating role of shame, with standard coefficients of 0.30 and 0.33, respectively, at the p<0.05 level. In addition, the anxious-avoidant insecure attachment path and the anxious-ambivalent insecure attachment path showed a significant relationship with the severity of depression symptoms with the mediating role of self-criticism, with standard coefficients of 0.22 and 0.33, respectively, at the p<0.05 level. Conclusion According to the results of the present study, anxious-avoidant and ambivalent insecure attachment, shame, and self-criticism are the underlying factors of depression, and paying attention to the mentioned variables helps researchers and therapists in the prevention and designing of more appropriate treatments.