Relationships between attachment insecurity, beliefs about the self and others, paranoia, and social functioning across the psychosis continuum
de‐la‐Higuera‐Gonzalez, P., Allefeld, C. 
ORCID: 0000-0002-1037-2735, de‐la‐Torre‐Luque, A. , Guillén, A. I., Díaz‐Marsá, M. & Fett, A. ORCID: 0000-0003-0282-273X (2026).
Relationships between attachment insecurity, beliefs about the self and others, paranoia, and social functioning across the psychosis continuum.
British Journal of Clinical Psychology,
doi: 10.1111/bjc.70027
Abstract
Objectives
Self-beliefs and other-regarding beliefs are related to attachment experiences and may contribute to paranoid beliefs and social functioning difficulties in psychosis. However, their relationships have not been examined jointly from an ecological perspective, while considering different degrees of psychosis risk.
Design
Relationships between avoidant and anxious attachment, self-beliefs and other-regarding beliefs, paranoia, and social functioning in daily-life were examined across the psychosis continuum of familial risk.
Methods
The sample comprised 29 patients with non-affective psychotic disorders (Mage = 39.07, SD = 9.91, 20.68% female), 17 first-degree relatives (Mage = 37.36, SD = 13.86, 64.71% female) and 26 controls (Mage = 36.15, SD = 8.1, 34.6% female). Avoidant and anxious attachment were assessed with the Psychosis Attachment Measure. Self-beliefs, beliefs about others, paranoia, and time spent alone were assessed for one week in participants’ daily lives using the Experience Sampling Method. Multilevel models were used to investigate cross-sectional and temporal relationships between the variables.
Results
Less positive self-beliefs and beliefs about others were related to paranoia, but only self-beliefs mediated the association between attachment insecurity and paranoia. People who were alone more frequently held less positive self-beliefs and beliefs about others, and being alone at a specific point in time was related to less positive self-beliefs. Attachment insecurity was unrelated to the amount of time spent alone.
Conclusions
Less positive self-beliefs and beliefs about others were related to higher paranoia levels and fewer social interactions in daily-life. These associations were present in all groups, supporting their utility as cognitive treatment targets in diverse therapeutic contexts.
| Publication Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | © 2026 The Author(s). British Journal of Clinical Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Publisher Keywords: | Attachment, beliefs about others, experience sampling method, paranoia, psychosis, self‐beliefs, social engagement |
| Subjects: | R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry |
| Departments: | School of Health & Medical Sciences School of Health & Medical Sciences > Department of Psychology & Neuroscience |
| SWORD Depositor: |
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
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