Unpacking the Link Between Adult Attachment and Social Anxiety: A Serial Mediation Model of Emotion Dysregulation and Self‐Esteem

Attachment insecurity has been linked to social anxiety, yet the correlates underlying this association remain unclear. This study examined whether emotion dysregulation and self‐esteem account for indirect associations between insecure attachment orientations and social anxiety symptoms. Using cross‐sectional survey data from a community sample of Turkish adults ( N = 631), the model tested indirect pathways from attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance to social anxiety via emotion dysregulation and self‐esteem. Both attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were positively associated with greater emotion dysregulation. In turn, greater emotion dysregulation was associated with lower self‐esteem, and lower self‐esteem was associated with higher social anxiety. Indirect associations emerged through emotion dysregulation, through self‐esteem, and through the serial pathway linking emotion dysregulation to self‐esteem, although the self‐esteem pathway for attachment avoidance was not statistically significant. Indirect associations were consistently larger for attachment anxiety than for attachment avoidance. These findings suggest that emotion dysregulation and self‐esteem are important correlates of the attachment–social anxiety link, with a more pronounced indirect pattern for attachment anxiety.