Adult Romantic Attachment Style Research Articles

Marital Communication during Conflict: A Study on Attachment Dimensions and Interaction Patterns

Conflict is increasingly present and could be severe in many adult romantic relationships including marriage, yet understudied in the context of adult attachment style. This study set out to investigate the underlying relationship between adult attachment styles and patterns of interaction in a Malaysian setting. By means of survey method, data was collected using self-reporting questionnaire involving 400 married individuals in the state of Penang, Malaysia for the duration of six months, with Partial Least Squares (PLS) employed for data analysis. The application of Attachment Theory in this study was established via two dimensions of anxiety and avoidance. Result from the analysis yielded all the constructs have composite reliability value of more than 0.6 and convergent and discriminant validity with an average variance extracted (AVE) value greater than 0.50. The findings indicated that, married individuals who are high in anxiety will exhibit destructive and avoidance patterns during conflict. Similarly, married individuals who are high in avoidance will exhibit destructive, avoidance and low level of constructive pattern during conflict. The study concludes that conflict pattern of interaction among married individuals is a function of adult romantic attachment styles. This study also addressed the gap in research literature by providing a non-western context by basing research within a Malaysian setting. Keywords: Anxiety, avoidance, conflict, marital communication, married individuals.

Parent-child interaction, parental attachment styles and parental alexithymia levels of children with ASD

AimGiven the recent findings regarding the increased evidence for the presence of the alexithymia in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the construct of alexithymia in parents of children with ASD and its effect on adult romantic attachment style of parents, family functioning and parent-child relationship were investigated. MethodsThe sample included children diagnosed as having ASD, developmental delay (DD), and 27 typically developing children aged 1–5 years and their parents. The Crowell procedure, an observational and structured assessment was performed, and the quality of the parent-child relationship was assessed using the Parent-Infant Relationship-Global Assessment Scale (PIR-GAS) based on DC: 0–5. The Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, Experiences in Close Relationships Revised, and the Family Assessment Device were administered to the parents. ResultsPIR-GAS scores were lower in the ASD group compared with the scores of the other groups. Family functioning rated by fathers of children with DD was lower than in the other groups. However, there was no significant difference between the groups in terms of alexithymia levels, and parent’s own attachment styles in romantic relationships. ConclusionsASD was found to be an independent predictor for disordered relationship between children and their parents. Appropriate family interventions focusing on enhancing social interaction and emotional development may be beneficial in the treatment of ASD.

The Effect of Perception of Early Parental Attachment Experiences on Adult Romantic Attachment Style

The capacity to form strong intimate relationship with others is considered as an essential developmental task and a principal feature of effective personality development. Consequently, there are different theories that attempted to explain how social relationship is formed. However, review of related literature on such relationship shows that attachment theory has become prominent theory to explain it. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of early parental (care giver) attachment experience on adult romantic attachment using attachment theory as a framework. Cross-sectional descriptive survey design was used. A total of 306 (159 female and 147 male) participants were included from community based sample. Three Kebeles in Yeka sub-city of Addis Ababa were selected randomly. Data were collected on adult attachment and perception of early parental attachment experience. The constructs were measured by Experience in Close Relationship Scale-Revised and Inventory of Parent Peer Attachment. Pearson correlation and linear multiple regressions were run to investigate the association and prediction among variables under study respectively. The result confirmed that perception of early attachment experience did not predict adult romantic attachment but insignificantly related. Consequently, the relationship between perception of early parental attachment experience and adult romantic attachment style should be studied by fellow researchers to make the study more replicable in the future.

Couples’ prenatal bonding to the fetus and the association with one's own and partner's emotional well-being and adult romantic attachment style

ObjectiveDeveloping an emotional bond to the fetus is a highly relevant task for both parents. However, research on the influence of emotional well-being and relationship dynamics on parental-fetal bonding is limited, especially regarding the paternal experience. Additionally, the roles of prenatal anxiety and hostility in parental bonding need further investigation. The aim of this study was to investigate the importance of one's own anxiety and hostility, adult romantic attachment style and one's partner's anxiety and hostility for parental-fetal bonding quality and intensity. DesignData were assessed cross-sectionally and analyzed using linear regression models. SettingThe study took place at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany. ParticipantsNinety-three pregnant women and their partners (total n = 186). Measurements and findingsParticipants completed questionnaires in mid to late pregnancy. For mothers, higher levels of hostility and attachment-related avoidance were associated with lower bonding quality. Unexpectedly, higher levels of partner hostility were associated with higher bonding quality. Fathers with higher attachment-related avoidance reported lower bonding intensity. Neither maternal bonding intensity nor paternal bonding quality was associated with the predictor variables. Key conclusionPrenatal bonding is individually influenced by emotional well-being and romantic attachment styles, with different effects in mothers and fathers. Implications for practicePotential negative emotional states and couple dynamics in the peripartum period should be addressed in prenatal care. Birth preparation classes might be an ideal context to generally inform parents about these topics. Distressed parents might benefit from interdisciplinary support focusing on perinatal mental health and parental-fetal bonding.

Love in the First Degree: Individual Differences in First-Person Pronoun Use and Adult Romantic Attachment Styles

The current project brings together over 1,400 observations drawn from seven studies to examine relations between adult romantic attachment styles and pronoun use. In each study, participants provided autobiographical narratives from the romantic domain and completed measures assessing their attachment styles. Pronoun use in the resulting narrative material was quantified using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count. Across studies, anxious and avoidant attachment styles were found to relate positively with I-talk and negatively with we-talk, respectively. Furthermore, after accounting for a range of demographic (e.g., age) and psychological (e.g., neuroticism) covariates, the negative relation between avoidant attachment and we-talk remained significant. Thus, the pronouns individuals use when describing their romantic experiences provide indication of their attachment styles. As such, this project carries implications for the detection and diagnosis of romantic domain functioning.

From Middle Childhood to Adulthood Attachment

Attachment theory argues that attachment styles developed during infancy and childhood will be relatively enduring and continue during adulthood. While research on adult attachment has been mounting in the past, less is known on the enduring effect of attachment styles with mother, father, and their peer or peers during childhood on adult romantic attachment styles. Past research in fact have obtained mixed findings on the stability of attachment styles from childhood to adulthood, especially in the context of Malaysian setting. In order to explore the stability of attachment styles from childhood to adulthood, a survey among 400 married individuals was conducted and partial least squares was employed for data analysis. The application of attachment theory in this study was established via two dimensions of anxiety and avoidance. The result indicated that respondents who exhibited high levels of anxiety and high levels of avoidance with mother, father, and their peers would display the same attachment styles with their romantic partners or spouses during adulthood. The findings provide conclusive evidence on the continuity and stability of attachment styles with stronger and enduring bonds observed for peer-adult attachment.

The relationships between sex, life history strategy, and adult romantic attachment style

The roles of sex and life history (LH) strategy in predicting romantic attachment style were examined. Women had higher preoccupied scores and, for women, slower LH strategy was negatively correlated with preoccupied attachment style. For men, slower LH strategy was positively associated with secure attachment and negatively associated with fearful and dismissive attachment. However, the results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the only significant sex difference in the strength of the LH strategy and romantic attachment correlations with dismissing attachment and this only occurred once a possible outlier was removed. It is suggested that future research increases power by using methods that allow for a larger participant sample.

Too close for comfort: Attachment insecurity and electronic intrusion in college students’ dating relationships

Social media has become an important context for dating relationships among young adults. This study sought to explore how the ubiquitous and public nature of social media may interact with college students’ individual characteristics to contribute to intrusiveness and invasion of privacy in dating relationships. A survey of 307 college students asked participants about their adult romantic attachment style and engagement in “electronic intrusion” (EI). EI included looking at a dating partner’s private electronic information without permission, monitoring a partner’s whereabouts using social media, and monitoring who a partner talks to or is friends with on social media. There were no gender differences in frequency of perpetrating EI. Results showed that level of attachment anxiety was positively associated with EI for women and men, and level of avoidance was negatively associated with EI for women. Results suggest that attachment style influences intrusive electronic dating behaviors, and social media may increase risk for anxiously attached college students to engage in EI for anxiety relief.

Adult attachment style and cortisol responses across the day in older adults

The association between cortisol and adult attachment style, an important indicator of social relationships, has been relatively unexplored. Previous research has examined adult attachment and acute cortisol responses to stress in the laboratory, but less is known about cortisol levels in everyday life. The present study examined adult romantic attachment style and cortisol responses across the day. Salivary cortisol was collected at six time points during the course of the day in 1,807 healthy men and women from a subsample of the Whitehall II cohort. Significant associations were found between attachment on cortisol across the day and slope of cortisol decline. The lowest cortisol output was associated with fearful attachment, with preoccupied attachment having the highest levels and a flatter cortisol profile. The results tentatively support the proposition that attachment style may contribute to HPA dysregulation.

Romantic Attachment Among Young Adults: The Effects of Parental Divorce and Residential Instability

Using an attachment theory perspective, variation in adult romantic attachment style outcomes were examined according to childhood experiences of parental divorce and residential instability. The sample was made up of 172 young adults who were recruited using snowball sampling via online social networking. A statistical difference on adult romantic attachment style was not found between individuals who experience parental divorce and those who did not, and parental conflict and stability of residence patterns did not have a statistical impact on attachment avoidance or anxiety. However, conflict, residential stability, and time with nonresidential parent statistically improved the predictive ability of attachment anxiety among those whose parents had divorced. Specifically, time with nonresidential parent moderated adult romantic attachment anxiety.

Women's Adult Romantic Attachment Style and Communication by Cell Phone with Romantic Partners

Cell phones have become important communication media for individuals in romantic relationships. The frequency of and methods used for communication may vary by adults' style of romantic attachment. Female university students (N = 31) currently in romantic relationships responded to a questionnaire. They estimated the frequency of calls and text messages received from and made to their romantic partners and completed the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised instrument, a measure of attachment anxiety and avoidance. Also, the participants reviewed their cell phones' memories and provided accurate frequency of communication to and from the romantic partner. Attachment anxiety was associated with more estimated text messages sent to and received from the romantic partners and actual text messages sent to and received from the romantic partners. Attachment avoidance was associated (r = -.38) with fewer estimated calls made to the romantic partners and fewer actual calls made to the romantic partners (r = -.34).

Adult Romantic Attachment, Negative Emotionality, and Depressive Symptoms in Middle Aged Men: A Multivariate Genetic Analysis

Adult romantic attachment styles reflect ways of relating in close relationships and are associated with depression and negative emotionality. We estimated the extent to which dimensions of romantic attachment and negative emotionality share genetic or environmental risk factors in 1,237 middle-aged men in the Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging (VETSA). A common genetic factor largely explained the covariance between attachment-related anxiety, attachment-related avoidance, depressive symptoms, and two measures of negative emotionality: Stress-Reaction (anxiety), and Alienation. Multivariate results supported genetic and environmental differences in attachment. Attachment-related anxiety and attachment-related avoidance were each influenced by additional genetic factors not shared with other measures; the genetic correlation between the attachment measure-specific genetic factors was 0.41, indicating some, but not complete overlap of genetic factors. Genetically informative longitudinal studies on attachment relationship dimensions can help to illuminate the role of relationship-based risk factors in healthy aging.

Examining the association between adult attachment style and cortisol responses to acute stress

SummaryThe quality of social relationships may contribute to variations in biological stress responses, thereby affecting health risk. The association between an important indicator of social relationships, adult attachment style, and cortisol has been relatively unexplored. The present study examined adult romantic attachment style and cortisol responses to acute laboratory stress. Salivary cortisol was measured in response to two behavioural tasks, a colour/word interference task and mirror tracing task, in 498 healthy men and women from the Heart Scan study, a subsample of the Whitehall II cohort. Participants were classified as secure, fearful, preoccupied or dismissive on the basis of responses to the Relationship Questionnaire. Cortisol output was lowest in the fearful group, followed by the preoccupied group, with both secure and dismissive groups having higher levels. The results from this study tentatively support the proposition that attachment style is a factor in determining the manifestation of HPA dysregulation.

Association Between Adult Romantic Attachment Styles and Family-of-Origin Expressive Atmosphere

This study examined the associations between attachment quality and perceived family-of-origin expressive atmosphere (FOEA) in a convenience sample of 279 participants. Multivariate analysis of variance (MAN-OVA) was used to examine the associations between attachment style and FOEA, and hierarchical regression was used to analyze FOEA as a predictor for attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance. Categorically, secure and dismissing individuals reported higher levels of FOEA than preoccupied and fearful ones. Dimensionally, FOEA predicted significant anxiety and avoidance. Findings in this study support the proposition of the family as a secure base for attachment formation.

Attachment Styles and Male Sex Addiction

This study addresses the adult romantic attachment styles of sexually addicted men. The Sexual Addiction Screening Test and the Experiences in Close Relationships Revised were used to determine the presence of a sexual addiction and the participants' style of romantic attachment. ANOVA revealed that sexually addicted men are more likely to relate with insecure attachment styles. Specifically, sexually addicted men were found to have higher anxiety F(1, 38) = 6.122, p < .05 and avoidance F(1, 37) = 4.685, p < .05 in their romantic relationships. Treatment for male sexual addicts should address both addiction and relationship insecurity.

Integrating Social Information Processing and Attachment Style Research with Cognitive-behavioral Couple Therapy

The majority of the empirically validated interventions for relational distress focus primarily upon improving behavioral functioning, particularly couples’ communication patterns in conflict situations. However, although communication is highly predictive of relationship distress and later divorce, research on the effectiveness of premarital and marital interventions based on communication training has shown limited results. Therefore, although the skills-based approaches can be effective in treating relational discord and instability, they also often neglect another potentially powerful mechanism in the development of relational distress: the social cognitions and/or schemata regarding relationships that individuals carry into their marriages that stem from negative attachment experiences. Thus, this article describes how blending information gleaned from attachment style research with the body of literature addressing social information processing can enhance current methods for the treatment of relational discord. The existing research on adult romantic attachment styles is placed within a social-cognitive information processing framework and a case study demonstrating the utility of this approach with difficult couples is described.

Parental Conflict and Infidelity as Predictors of Adult Children's Attachment Style and Infidelity

The purpose of this study was to conduct a quantitative analysis examining the impact of parental infidelity and conflict on the adult child's internal working models and romantic attachment style. Using a convenience sample of 150 undergraduates, we found no significant difference in the internal working models of adult children with and without knowledge of parental infidelity. Individuals who reported their parents as conflictual had a more negative view of self and of others. Additionally, adult children who had knowledge of their father's infidelity were more likely to engage in infidelity than adult children without such knowledge.

Attachment Style, Stigma and Psychological Distress among HIV+ Adults

This study explored the role of adult attachment style in reported experiences of HIV-related stigma, stress and depression in a diverse sample of HIV+ adults. Participants (N = 288) recruited from AIDS service organizations were administered the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, CES-D, HIV Stigma Scale and a health information questionnaire. Adult romantic attachment style was significantly associated with perceived stress, depression and HIV-related stigma. Results of regression analyses supported contentions that in addition to HIV symptomatology, other psychosocial risk factors such as attachment style and stigma contribute to perceived stress and depression among HIV+ men and women.

Avoidant Attachment and the Experience of Parenting

Guided by attachment theory, this research investigated connections between avoidant attachment styles and the experience of parenting after the birth of a couple's first child. One hundred and six couples completed a battery of measures approximately 6 weeks before and 6 months after the birth of their first child. As anticipated, parents with more avoidant attachment styles experienced greater stress after the birth of their child and perceived parenting as less satisfying and personally meaningful. Attachment theory maintains that adult attachment styles should affect relationships with adults and with one's children. The present findings provide some of the first evidence that self-reported adult romantic attachment styles, which have been the focus of attachment research by social and personality psychologists, are systematically associated with parent-child relationships. They also provide insight into the processes through which secure and insecure attachment styles might be transmitted from one generation to the next.

Female-Perpetrated Intimate Partner Violence and Romantic Attachment Style in a College Student Sample

The frequency, severity, and reciprocity of female-perpetrated intimate partner violence and its consequences (i.e., injuries) were investigated in a college sample of women (N = 457). Participants were classified into one of the following four groups on the basis of self-reported physical assault perpetration and victimization against their relationship partners: nonviolent, perpetrator-only, victim-only, and bidirectionally violent. Results showed that females in the bidirectionally violent group had a reportedly higher occurrence (although not always statistically significant) of perpetration and victimization than those in the perpetrator-only and victim-only groups. Additionally, a similar degree of reciprocity was indicated by females in bidirectionally violent relationships in terms of violence severity and the occurrence of injury. Adult romantic attachment style was also examined among a subset of females (N = 328), and bidirectionally violent females were found to have the highest reported levels of attachment anxiety. Further, females high in attachment anxiety and low in attachment avoidance were more likely to report perpetrating violence than females high in both styles. Implications for prevention are discussed.