Honors College Thesis
 

Exercise Habits, Adult Attachment Styles, and HPA-Axis Hypersensitivity

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  • This is the first study to link exercise with adult romantic attachment style in a university setting. Previous research has associated insecure attachment styles, particularly those associated with high levels of anxiety, with increased pain sensitivity. This thesis hypothesizes that the mechanism responsible for this relationship will correlate with the experience of rigorous exercise as more physically painful, and thus to exercise avoidance. A volunteer sample of 148 participants (117 females, 31 males) was assessed. Participants were given The Relationship Questionnaire and a measure of exercise habits. We found that across all measures of exercise, individuals with anxious-type attachment styles exercised significantly less than those reporting secure attachment. It is argued in this thesis that the physiological mechanism for these findings involves the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis,which is a stress response system in humans. Specifically, it is proposed that early childhood stressors can lead to both HPA-axis hypersensitivity and to an anxious insecure attachment style. It is the HPA-Axis hyperactivity of adults that is likely the true underlying cause of both exercise aversion and anxiety-type attachment styles, and that it links the two behaviors. Key Words: Adult Attachment, Exercise, HPA Axis, Stress
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file details Chrisman-MillerZoeE2015.pdf 2017-07-30 Pubblico Scaricare