Structural Relationships among Mentalization, Adaptive Cognitive Emotion Regulation and Problem Drinking in New Middle-Aged: A Multigroup Analysis According to Adult Attachment Types

Objectives The purpose of this study is to examine the differences among new middle-aged's mentalization, adaptive cognitive regulation, and problem drinking variables according to the type of adult attachment and to verify the difference in influence between the variables according to the type of adult attachment. Methods Data from 525 new middle-aged adults(50-69 years old) recruited online were analyzed using F-test, latent mean analysis and multigroup analysis. Statistical significance was verified at a significance probability of .05. Results First, there were significant differences in mentalization, adaptive cognitive regulation, and problem drinking of new middle-aged adults according to the type of adult attachment. In other words, the secure attachment group showed a higher mentalization, adaptive cognitive regulation and showed a lower problem drinking than the insecure group. Second, there were significant differences in the effect of mentalization on problem drinking and the effect of adaptive cognitive regulation on problem drinking according to the type of adult attachment. Conclusions It was found that the secure attachment group showed a lower problem drinking on a higher mentalization, adaptive cognitive regulation than the insecure attachment group. Therefore, it can be suggested to promote mentalization, adaptive cognitive regulation based attachment for new middle-aged adults with drinking problems.