Behavioral responses to anxiety: Self-reliance, counterdependence, and overdependence

Abstract

Abstract This article builds on the original foundations of attachment theory and traces the strategies for achieving felt security into the adulthood years. The theoretical case is made for a link between a secure, self-reliant strategy and healthy adulthood functioning. This self-reliant strategy counteracts the health risk factors of social isolation and separation in human relationships. The strategy results in an enduring personality characteristic of self-reliance, a paradoxical pattern of behavior characterized by flexibility and bonding in relationships which appears rather autonomous. This article proposes a work-related measure of self-reliance which also incorporates the two insecure, unhealthy strategies for achieving felt security. These strategies are the dismissing strategy, which results in a counterdependent pattern of behavior, and the preoccupied strategy, which results in an overdependent behavior pattern. Preliminary reliability and validity data concerning the Self-Reliance Inventory...