Romantic attachment, unforgiveness and relationship satisfaction in couples: A dyadic mediation analysis

Abstract

Adult romantic attachment is strongly associated with couple relationship functioning, and many efforts have been made to identify the mechanisms underlying this link. Nevertheless, no previous study considered unforgiveness when investigating the relationship of romantic attachment with relationship satisfaction in couples. We used the actor–partner interdependence mediation model to explore the associations between romantic attachment and relationship satisfaction as mediated by unforgiveness (i.e., avoidance and revenge motivations) in a convenience sample of 104 Chilean couples. The couples completed self-report measures of romantic attachment, unforgiveness, and relationship satisfaction. Actor insecure attachment was associated with lower relationship satisfaction directly and indirectly. Indirectly, higher actor levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance were linked, respectively, to greater revenge and avoidance motivations, and thus to lower relationship satisfaction. Partner attachment avoidance was associated with lower relationship satisfaction only directly. Higher partner levels of attachment anxiety were associated with lower avoidance motivation, and thus with higher relationship satisfaction. These dyadic findings further attest to the detrimental role of attachment avoidance and unforgiveness against the couple’s functioning. The novel finding that attachment anxiety may indirectly promote a couple’s relationship satisfaction deserves further investigation. The implications for couple counseling and therapy are discussed.