Page 117 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 15

Eun Young Cindy Kim Eun Young Cin-
(Republic of Korea) dy Kim is from

Comment to a harbor city in
South
Korea.
“Attachment Style and Her educational
background in-
the Acculturation cludes in MA in

Process of Cross-Cultural Counseling Mi-
nistries (Trinity
Workers“ Evangelical Divi-
nity School, IL),
MA and PhD in Clinical Psychology (Rose-
Missionaries and cross-cultural workers go mead School of Psychology, CA). While she
through the acculturation process with multiple lived and studied in the United States for
stressors (Dodd, 1997). Since the missionaries eight years, she worked and did practicum at
face new environment (e.g., language, culture, Biola University Counseling Center, La Ha-
home, etc.) missionaries may show their attach- bra School District and one-year internship
ment styles more clearly in the mission field. at Temple University Tuttleman Counseling
The author of this study explained of the relati- Center. Currently Eun Young lives in South
onship between attachment styles and accultu- Korea with her husband Binny. There she
ration process in detail. teaches clinical psychology courses at Kyun-
The researcher addressed that the early attach- gil University. In addition, she served three
ment can have an effect on future relationships, years with a Mission Organization, Operati-
emotional functioning (Bretherton, 1992), ways on Mobilization (M.V. Doulos) and two years
of coping (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1995), at Mongolia International University as a
perception of stress (Kemp & Neimeyer, 1999), missionary.
and emotion regulation (Wei, Vogel, Ku, & Za-
kalik, 2005). The attachment styles impact on References
missionaries’ lives in significant ways. Especial- Brennan, K. A., Clark, C. L., & Shaver, P. R. (1998). Self-
ly when missionaries have insecure attachment report measurement of adult romantic
style, their future relationship will not be secure attachment: An integrative overview. In J. A. Simpson &
with local people, other missionaries, and even W. S. Rholes (Eds.), Attachment
theory and close relationships (pp. 46–76). New York:
with God. In the mission field, their emotional Guilford Press.
functioning will be in danger; their lack of co- Bretherton, I. (1992). The origins of attachment theory:
ping strategies will cause problems; they will be John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth.
overwhelmed with stress; poor emotion regu- Developmental psychology, 28(5), 759.
lation and could lead to problems such as sub- Dodd, D. S. (1997). Missionary family life: Resources and
strategies for dealing with stress. Dissertation Abstracts
stance abuse (Schindler, 2019). International, 58(09), 5112B. (UMI No.9810885)
Flores (2004) claimed that addiction is an at- Flores, P. J. (2004). Addiction as an attachment disorder.
tachment disorder. If the missionary with inse- New York: Jason Aronson.
cure attachment style face lots of acculturation Kemp, M. A., & Neimeyer, G. J. (1999). Interpersonal
stress, the missionaries will have poor emotio- attachment: Experiencing, expressing, and coping with
stress. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 46(3), 388.
nal regulation functioning and easily indulge in Schindler, A. (2019). Attachment and Substance Use
addictions (internet, gaming, gambling, porno- Disorders—Theoretical Models, Empirical Evidence,
graphy, etc.). and Implications for Treatment. Frontiers in Psychi-
atry, 10. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.3389/
As the author of study suggests, identifying at- fpsyt.2019.00727
tachment styles through missionary’s selection Wei, M., Vogel, D. L., Ku, T. Y., & Zakalik, R. A. (2005).
Adult attachment, affect regulation, negative mood, and
and screening will be important to prevent interpersonal problems: The mediating roles of emotio-
attrition and future problems and lead to suc- nal reactivity and emotional cutoff. Journal of counseling
cessful missionary service for God‘s kingdom. psychology, 52(1), 14-24.
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