Adult attachment style and narcissistic vulnerability.

Abstract

Although attachment theory has traditionally emphasized adaptive responses in the child-parent relationship, researchers have more recently applied attachment theory to adult love relationships. Both the child and adult literature have explored individual differences in attachment behavior and identified stylistic categories of secure and insecure attachments. Although the insecure categories are characterized by overt behavior which appears quite different (i.e., clinging vs. distance), in adult relationships where attachment is reciprocal, these stylistic patterns may achieve a similar function. In this article, I argue that, in adult relationships, insecure attachments reflect strategies for managing a greater level of narcissistic vulnerability than exists in secure attachment.