When and how do people share? Attachment anxiety predicts support‐seeking strategies

Abstract

AbstractAttachment anxiety is expected to motivate people to seek excessive attention, reassurance, and help from their attachment figures. However, prior studies assessing links between attachment anxiety and this hyperactivating support‐seeking strategy have yielded inconsistent results. To advance this literature, the current research focused on the disclosure of negative personal experiences (i.e., disclosure decisions and disclosure strategies), an overlooked step in the support‐seeking process where hyperactivation may occur. Participants (N = 444) reported whether and how they shared up to four recent negative events with up to three attachment figures, and they reported their relationship‐specific attachment toward each figure (to improve measurement precision). Participants were more likely to report sharing negative events with attachment figures to whom they reported greater attachment anxiety, especially when they also perceived low responsiveness in that relationship. Additionally, participants reported that they displayed greater distress, downplayed their personal responsibility more, and emphasized a need for help more when disclosing negative events in relationships with greater attachment anxiety (behaviors that facilitate support receipt and decrease the risk of rejection). This study helps to clarify links between attachment anxiety and support seeking and provides one of the first empirical demonstrations of strategic support seeking in anxiously attached relationships.