Research Symposium

BIO

My name is Emily Citrano and I am currently in my second year here at Florida State. My time here at FSU is preparing me for a successful future in research. I have been involved in several DIS labs here including the KAT lab, the ENHANCE lab, and a lab run by Dr Michale Langlais regarding attachment and relationships. Dr. Langlais and I are ecurrently running a study and collecting data about stress and romantoc relationships. I am also currently working on an honors thesis regarding sex differences in spatial navigation skills under the advisement of Dr. Neil Charness. My goal is to persure a PhD in Clinical Psychology after my undergraduate years at FSU. My interest are specifclly in Pediatric Health Psychology and stress related problems. I would like to continue working in research as my career after graduating with a PhD and continue to present at conferences.

Fight or Flight: Examining Social Media as a Mediator for Attachment Security and Internal Stress

Abstract

Attachment insecurity - attachment anxiety and avoidance - is associated with higher reports of internal stress. Because attachment insecurity is associated with higher reports of social media (SM) use, and SM use has been shown to reduce the quality of interpersonal interactions, it is possible that SM use may mediate the association between attachment insecurity and experiences of internal stress. The present study uses daily diary data from 150 participants currently in a romantic relationship. Both concurrent (same day) and lagged (next day) effects were examined. Attachment anxiety was positively associated with experiences of internal stress on day 2 (concurrent effect) and day 3 (lagged effect). Partial support was found for associations with attachment avoidance; those reporting higher attachment avoidance reported higher internal stress on day 3 (lagged effect), but not on day 2 (concurrent effect). SM use did not mediate the association between insecure attachment and internal stress. Results suggest that social media use is not associated with increased reports of internal stress for those with an insecure attachment. Implications and future directions are presented.

Keywords: Attachment security, internal stress, relationships, social media