(PS2-72) Early Life Stress and Adult Attachment in the Development of Hoarding

The cognitive-behavioral model of hoarding disorder posits that emotional attachment to objects is a key mechanism in the development and maintenance of hoarding. The literature suggests that individuals with hoarding may attempt to compensate for interpersonal attachment difficulties by forming emotional attachments with objects. These objects ultimately fail to fulfill the individual’s interpersonal needs, which perpetuates their hoarding symptom. There is also some research to suggest that early life stress may be a risk factor for hoarding. Since childhood adversity is not specific to hoarding, further research is needed to determine how early life stress influences hoarding. Given that attachment anxiety in adulthood is likely associated with events in childhood, it is possible that early life stress is associated with hoarding through its impact on adult attachment. The current study aimed to examine direct and indirect associations between early life stress, attachment anxiety in adulthood, and the three core symptoms of hoarding.

Four hundred twenty-seven participants were recruited through Qualtrics XM Research Panels and completed an online survey. The sample was 48.9% female, and the participants’ ages were between 18-92 (M = 47.80, SD = 21.05). A retrospective report of early life stress was obtained using the Risky Families Questionnaire, which is based on the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire. Hoarding symptoms were measured using the Saving Inventory Revised (SIR), which includes three subscales assessing the core features of hoarding: difficulties discarding, clutter, and acquiring. Participants also completed the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale – Short Form to assess general adult attachment anxiety. We tested a path model examining the direct effect of early life stress and the indirect effect of early life stress via attachment anxiety on hoarding symptoms. Separate models were run for each of the three SIR subscales, including the other two subscales as covariates to account for shared variance among hoarding symptoms.

Greater early life stress was associated with more severe clutter symptoms while controlling for acquiring and difficulties discarding (ß = .05, z = 2.34, p = .019). We also found that higher reported early life stress was associated with more severe acquiring symptoms while controlling for clutter and difficulties discarding (ß = .03, z = 2.42, p = .016). The indirect effect of early life stress on acquiring via attachment anxiety was also significant (ß = .02, z = 2.77, p = .006). The direct and indirect effects of early life stress were not significant in the model predicting difficulties discarding. These findings suggest that the relationships between early life stress, attachment anxiety, and hoarding symptoms are nuanced and require further examination. Our work also suggests that these relationships may be particularly relevant for acquiring symptoms. Future work in clinical samples is warranted to further examine the role early life stress and attachment anxiety may play in risk and vulnerability for hoarding disorder.