The association between attachment orientations and partner evaluations: An ideal standards perspective

This research examined links between attachment orientations and evaluations of potential and existing relationship partners with respect to ideal standards. In Study 1, attachment anxiety and avoidance predicted the tradeoffs individuals made when choosing between potential mates. In Studies 2 and 3, attachment anxiety and avoidance were associated with ideal partner discrepancies within existing relationships. The findings across the three studies suggest that highly anxious individuals are more likely to use the ideal partner warmth/trustworthiness and status/resources dimensions when evaluating hypothetical and actual romantic partners, whereas highly avoidant individuals are more inclined to use the ideal partner vitality/attractiveness and status/resources dimensions when making partner evaluations. These novel findings are discussed in terms of evolutionary models of mating strategies and evaluations.     

The Role of Attachment Anxiety and Avoidance in Communication Modality and Relationship Quality of Romantic Relationships Initiated Online

This study explores the relationships among an individual's attachment anxiety and avoidance, the ratio of technology mediated communication (TMC) in their relationship, and relationship quality for individuals who met their romantic partners online. Participants (N = 219) consisted of individuals between the ages of 18–25, who were US citizens, and met a romantic partner utilizing online dating, dating mobile web applications, social networking sites, online chatrooms, or any way of meeting through technology. A survey measuring relationship beliefs, relationship attitudes, and use of technology was distributed and completed via MTurk. Structural equation modeling revealed that anxious attachment was associated with a higher ratio of TMC, whereas avoidant attachment was not significantly related with the ratio of TMC. Higher ratios of TMC were associated with lower relationship quality. Implications for intervention are discussed.     

Generalized and specific attachment representations: unique and interactive roles in predicting conflict behaviors in close relationships

The authors expected that associations between the representations individuals possess regarding romantic partners and their conflict behavior would be moderated by generalized attachment representations (GAR). To test this premise, college students (N =130) were administered two attachment measures and were observed during conflict negotiation with their partners. The Relationship Styles Questionnaire assessed specific representations regarding partners and GAR were measured by the Adult Attachment Interview. The relationship between romantic partner representations and conflict tactics were dependent on GAR. Individuals who possessed secure GAR generally displayed good conflict management skills, regardless of their attachment representations regarding their romantic partners. Individuals who held more anxious or avoidant perceptions of romantic partners displayed more problematic conflict tactics if they possessed insecure GAR; however, these associations were dependent on the type of conflict behavior and the type of insecure GAR. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Adult attachment dimensions and specificity of emotional distress symptoms: prospective investigations of cognitive risk and interpersonal stress generation as mediating mechanisms

Three prospective studies examined the relation between adult attachment dimensions and symptoms of emotional distress (anxiety and depression). Across all three studies, avoidant and anxious attachment prospectively predicted depressive symptoms, and anxious attachment was associated concurrently with anxiety symptoms. Study 2 tested a cognitive risk factors mediational model, and Study 3 tested an interpersonal stress generation mediational model. Both cognitive and interpersonal mediating processes were supported. The cognitive risk factors pathway, including elevated dysfunctional attitudes and low self-esteem, specifically mediated the relation between insecure attachment and prospective elevations in depression but not anxiety. For the interpersonal stress generation model, experiencing additional interpersonal, but not achievement, stressors over time mediated the association between insecure attachment and prospective elevations in depressive and anxious symptoms. Results advance theory and empirical knowledge about why these interpersonal and cognitive mechanisms explain how insecurely attached people become depressed and anxious.     

Asymmetry in self-other agreement on attachment style among romantic partners

This research reports about asymmetrical relations in self-other ratings of attachment style. Specifically, results showed that romantic partners hold relatively accurate perceptions of each other’s attachment styles with one exception: women’s ability to judge their male partner’s level of attachment-related anxiety was compromised compared with the other agreement indices measured. The effect was not moderated by acquaintanceship length or relationship satisfaction, but it was affected by men’s interpersonally oriented self-control. The findings appear to reflect men’s reluctance from appearing anxious to their female partners and from the nature of the anxiety dimension of attachment. Anxiety (as compared with avoidance) has a less consistent interpersonal behavioral manifestation and thus is more concealable among those motivated and capable of doing so.     

The boundaries between attachment and personality: Localized versus generalized effects in daily social interaction

A diary study examined the effects of romantic attachment (avoidance, anxiety) and autonomous and sociotropic personality on levels of sociability within social interactions across relational contexts (N = 89 undergraduates). As expected, the effects of domain-specific romantic attachment avoidance and anxiety on sociability were localized to social interactions with romantic partners, whereas the effects of autonomy and sociotropy were generalized across relational contexts (i.e., across social interactions with romantic partners, family members, friends, and acquaintances/others). Furthermore, the effects of both autonomy and sociotropy on sociability were partially mediated by domain-specific attachment in domain-congruent (romantic) but not domain-incongruent (non-romantic) relational contexts: romantic avoidance partially mediated the effects of autonomy on sociability toward romantic partners, whereas romantic anxiety partially mediated the effects of sociotropy. These results suggest that autonomy and sociotropy summarize global regularities in relational responding that correspond to those described by attachment avoidance and anxiety—although (unlike attachment) they do so across relational contexts. Domain-specific attachment representations, in contrast, govern responding within context-congruent domains and act as a mechanism through which personality guides social interaction within these domains.     

Indirect pathways between depressive symptoms and marital distress: the role of conflict communication, attributions, and attachment style

Previous studies have focused on concomitants of depression and marital distress in order to help explain the relationship between the two, suggesting that several variables, such as conflict communication, attributions, and attachment style, are associated with depression, marital distress, or both. Our contention is that the selected variables may be important mediators (hypothesis 1) or moderators (hypothesis 2) of the concomitance between depression and marital adjustment, exploring the direct and indirect ways in which depressive symptoms and marital adjustment are related. In total, 415 heterosexual couples were recruited, and a series of regression analyses was conducted to test our hypotheses separately for men and women. Results indicated that demand-withdrawal, avoidance, causal attributions, and secure, ambivalent, and avoidant attachment mediated the relation between depressive symptoms and marital adjustment in the female sample, whereas constructive communication and causal and responsible attributions were significant mediators of men's levels of depressive symptoms and marital adjustment. In addition, avoidance and secure attachment moderated the association between depressive symptoms and marital adjustment in the female sample, and causal attributions were significant moderators of the association between depressive symptoms and marital adjustment for men. Several conclusions and implications for theory and future research are discussed.     

Attachment‐related differences in secrecy and rumination in romantic relationships

The study examined attachment‐related predispositions and patterns of cognition and emotion that contribute to different secret‐keeping experiences. Participants (n = 380) reported on their secret keeping, rumination, attachment anxiety, and attachment avoidance via online questionnaires. Results showed that both anxiety and avoidance were positively associated with keeping a secret from a romantic partner, while only avoidance was associated with a greater total number of secrets kept. The association between avoidance and rumination was partially mediated by perceptions of a partner's ownership rights to the secret and guilt for keeping the secret, such that those who were highly avoidant were less likely to perceive a partner's ownership rights. Finally, highly anxious participants reported higher levels of rumination, which were mediated by feelings of guilt for keeping a secret. The study extends research on the link between secrecy and rumination by offering a theoretical account based on attachment for why some people are more likely to ruminate about their secrecy than others.     

With or without you: The impact of partner presence and attachment on exploration

Past research has examined the link of attachment anxiety and avoidance with exploration in adults, though results have been inconsistent and have relied primarily on self-reports. We hypothesized that the presence of the attachment figure (i.e., romantic partner) would play a critical moderating role on exploration duration and enjoyment. Eighty-six couples were randomly assigned to explore alone or with the partner in order to examine the moderating effect of partner presence on the effects of individuals' anxiety and avoidance as well as the partner's anxiety and avoidance. Consistent with hypotheses, there were significant two-way interactions of partner presence with anxiety, avoidance, and partner anxiety. When exploring alone, more (vs. less) anxious individuals spent less time exploring and felt less positive affect. When exploring with the partner, more (vs. less) avoidant individuals spent less time exploring and felt less positive affect. Individuals with more anxious partners felt more positive affect after exploring alone than with the partner, whereas individuals with more avoidant partners were not affected by the partner's presence. Above and beyond individuals' attachment style, partner presence and partner attachment style have implications for exploratory behavior.     

The role of partner characteristics in attachment insecurity and depressive symptoms

Depression is associated with marital distress and attachment insecurity in romantic relationships. In this article, I propose an attachment‐theory model of depression, which links the characteristics of romantic partners to attachment insecurity and depression. I hypothesized that individuals who are avoidant of closeness and/or who devalue their spouses will be perceived as unresponsive to their spouses’ vulnerability, which will increase the spouse's attachment insecurity. Attachment insecurity was then proposed to contribute to depressive symptoms over time. A sample of married or cohabiting couples was recruited to complete questionnaires at an Internet Web site at 2 time points, approximately 3 months apart. Path analysis showed that for both husbands (N= 82) and wives (N= 99), avoidance of closeness in 1 partner was associated with perceived unresponsiveness to vulnerability and attachment insecurity in the other partner. In addition, for husbands, attachment insecurity at T1 predicted depressive symptoms at T2, above and beyond baseline levels of depression. These results provide encouraging support for an attachment‐theory approach to the study and treatment of depression, particularly among married or cohabiting men.     

Adult Attachment and Exploration: Linking Attachment Style to Motivation and Perceptions of Support in Adult Exploration

Taking an attachment theory perspective, the present studies investigated partner-related motives for exploration and perceptions of romantic partners as persons who might provide support for exploration. We argue, from an attachment theory perspective, that more avoidant persons may use exploration as a way to distance themselves from their partners, whereas more anxious persons may use exploration as a means of getting closer to or depending on their partners. Attachment theory also suggests that more insecure individuals will tend to see their partners as providing less support and less effective support for exploration. Our research found support for both of these hypotheses. In this article we also investigate potential mediating models for linking attachment style to motives for exploration and perceptions of partner support.     

The relationship between romantic and prenatal maternal attachment: The moderating role of social support

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between three types of maternal attachment bonds: anxious romantic, avoidant romantic and prenatal. The moderating role of perceived social support is also analysed. Ninety-one pregnant women in or near their thirtieth week of gestation (M = 29.59; SD = 4.57) were recruited, all of whom completed a series of questionnaires to assess the quality of their romantic and prenatal attachment bonds and their levels of perceived social support. The results reveal that both anxious and avoidant romantic attachments were significantly associated with low levels of maternal prenatal attachment. Moreover, the level of social support perceived during pregnancy moderated the relationship between anxious and prenatal attachments but had no effect on avoidant romantic and prenatal attachments. Our discussion of these findings considers the emotional and behavioural characteristics of various forms of insecure romantic attachments. Overall, the data highlight the relevance of the quality of intimate close relationships on maternity experiences and women's caregiving abilities.     

Attachment Anxiety, Conflict Behaviors, and Depressive Symptoms in Emerging Adults’ Romantic Relationships

The present study examined attachment anxiety, conflict behaviors (attacking and compromising), and depressive symptoms in a sample of 45 emerging adults ages 18–25?years (M?=?19.51). Emerging adults’ romantic partners also participated in the study. In order to assess the study variables, emerging adults and their romantic partners completed self-report questionnaires. Using hierarchical regression analyses, a statistical model was tested wherein emerging adults’ depressive symptoms were regressed on their own and their partner’s attributes. Emerging adults’ own attachment anxiety and attacking behaviors and their romantic partner’s attacking behaviors, each explained significant portions of the variance in emerging adults’ depressive symptoms. Findings highlight the importance of considering the role of emerging adults’ and their romantic partners’ attributes in their depressive symptoms and offer important targets for therapeutic intervention.     

The boundaries between attachment and personality: Associations across three levels of the attachment network

This research examined the associations between measures of sociotropic and autonomous personality, romantic attachment anxiety and avoidance, and corresponding attachment ratings across a range of different specific relationships with people whom participants regularly interacted (including romantic partners, friends, family members, and colleagues). Analyses using hierarchical linear modeling showed that sociotropy and autonomy were directly associated with respective ratings of relationship-specific anxiety and avoidance within non-romantic relationships. In contrast, domain-specific romantic attachment predicted relationship-specific attachment with romantic (but not non-romantic) partners, and, as hypothesized, mediated the associations between sociotropy and autonomy and relationship-specific attachment within this domain. Implications for the operationalization of sociotropy and autonomy as broad-bandwidth (personality-level) measures that assess more global summaries of regularities in the same dual dimensions identified in the attachment literature (i.e., attachment anxiety and avoidance) are discussed.     

Attachment insecurities,life satisfaction,and relationship satisfaction from a dyadic perspective: The role of positive and negative affect

The purpose of this research is to examine the association between attachment insecurities (anxiety and avoidance) and both subjective well‐being (positive affect [PA] and negative affect [NA] and life satisfaction) and relationship satisfaction. There were 174 Spanish heterosexual couples with a mean length of relationship of 13.9 years who participated in the study. The hypotheses were tested according to the actor–partner interdependence model. We proposed a model in which PA and NA could mediate the association between attachment insecurities and life and relationship satisfaction. Results show that (1) actor effects are more frequent than partner effects; (2) anxious attachment tends to be related to NA and avoidant attachment to PA; (3) avoidance is more detrimental than anxiety for relationship satisfaction at individual and dyadic levels, and (4) there are some mediational effects of NA and PA in the association between attachment insecurities and life and relationship satisfaction.     

Performance comparisons and attachment: An investigation of competitive responses in close relationships

Two studies investigated whether affective responses to competitive performance situations are moderated by attachment style. In Study 1, participants (n= 115) imagined their reactions to a superior or inferior performance against their romantic partner or an acquaintance. Results showed that participants low in attachment avoidance, relative to those high in avoidance, indicated more positivity after an inferior performance (empathy effect) to their partners, and this finding held only in domains of high importance to the partner. In Study 2, participants (n= 53) imagined comparisons with their partner or a close friend. Low‐avoidance participants, relative to high‐avoidance participants, exhibited sympathy and empathy effects in comparisons involving their romantic partner but not those involving a friend. The findings are discussed in terms of one's model of other and perceived self–other separation, which are defined by avoidance but not anxiety.     

Two Dimensions of Attachment to God and Their Relation to Affect, Religiosity, and Personality Constructs

In this study we sought to address several limitations of previous research on attachment theory and religion by (1) developing a dimensional attachment to God scale, and (2) demonstrating that dimensions of attachment to God are predictive of measures of affect and personality after controlling for social desirability and other related dimensions of religiosity. Questionnaire measures of these constructs were completed by a sample of university students and community adults (total n = 374). Consistent with prior research on adult romantic attachment, two dimensions of attachment to God were identified: avoidance and anxiety . After statistically controlling for social desirability, intrinsic religiousness, doctrinal orthodoxy, and loving God image, anxious attachment to God remained a significant predictor of neuroticism , negative affect , and (inversely) positive affect ; avoidant attachment to God remained a significant inverse predictor of religious symbolic immortality and agreeableness . These findings are evidence that correlations between attachment to God and measures of personality and affect are not merely byproducts of confounding effects of socially desirable responding or other dimensions of religiosity.     

Do episodic self- and partner-uncertainty mediate the association between attachment orientations and emotional responses to relationship-threatening events in dating couples?

This study examined relational-uncertainty perceptions (a form of cognitive appraisal) to investigate how partners in 272 heterosexual couples responded emotionally to a relationship-challenging event. Participants rated themselves on attachment anxiety and avoidance. Then, after listing a challenging event, they rated how uncertain it made them about their own and their partner's continued involvement in the relationship. Participants also rated how angry and fearful the event made them. An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model yielded three sets of results. First, actor effects from insecure attachment orientations to episodic relational uncertainty emerged. Second, proposed mediation between attachment orientations and emotional reactions by uncertainty was partially supported (perceived partner-uncertainty partially mediated the positive association of anxious attachment and fear, and self-uncertainty partially mediated the positive relation between avoidant attachment and anger). Finally, a partner effect was found between one couple member's avoidant attachment and the other's perceived partner uncertainty. Men and women exhibited similar findings.     

Volitional Change in Adult Attachment: Can People Who Want to Become Less Anxious and Avoidant Move Closer Towards Realizing Those Goals?

People value relationships and want to relate to both friends and romantic partners in a secure and comfortable fashion. But can individuals move towards realizing this goal of their own volition? To address this question, across three studies with a combined total of more than 4000 participants, we developed and validated a new measure of people's desires to change their attachment anxiety and avoidance. In Study 1, we created the new, 16-item Change Goals—Experiences in Close Relationships measure. In Study 2, we replicated the Change Goals—Experiences in Close Relationships' factor structure and demonstrated that it correlates in theoretically expected ways with criterion variables (e.g. people who were high in undesirable traits such as anxiety or avoidance generally wanted to change those traits; change goals were linked to dissatisfaction with relevant life domains). Finally, in Study 3, we conducted a 16-wave, weekly longitudinal study. Results indicated that goals to change attachment anxiety and avoidance predicted corresponding growth across time (e.g. people who wanted to become less anxious tended to experience declines in attachment anxiety across time). Thus, our research provides a new measure for studying changes in attachment and suggests people may be able to increase in attachment security per their own volition. © 2019 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Daily variations in attachment anxiety and avoidance: A density distributions approach

Attachment theory proposes that experiences of acceptance and rejection will modify feelings of attachment security, but such processes have rarely been investigated. In this study, daily variations in attachment anxiety and avoidance were investigated across 7 days in a sample of college undergraduates currently in romantic relationships. We observed significant within-person variation in attachment avoidance and anxiety. Participants reported lower anxiety and avoidance on days on which they felt more accepted by their romantic partners. Further, perceptions of acceptance predicted the following day’s attachment security through lower negative mood. Greater variability in attachment avoidance and anxiety was associated with greater physical aggression in relationships.