Search Results: adult attachment

Probably really personal for many people, but hey, votes are anonymous. It's for my own interest in psychology. Based on Attachment theory with children, there was a follow-up on John Bowlby and Marie Ainsworth's work. This follow-up attempts to see attachment patterns in adult, romantic relationships. For a better understanding:

Secure: This attachment pattern usually results from a history of warm and responsive interactions with their attachments. Securely attached people tend to have positive views of themselves and their attachments. They also tend to have positive views of their relationships. Many want to balance intimacy and independence in their relationship.

Anxious-preoccupied: This pattern tends to bring out "addictive" traits, as they fear rejection, think little of themselves and are worried to not find someone to reciprocate their affection. They have the feeling that they love their partner more than the partner loves them. These people seek high levels of intimacy, attention because of low or inconsistent attention from parents in childhood, (physical brain trauma and genetics also are factors)

Dismissive-avoidant: People with this attachment style desire a high level of independence. The desire for independence often appears as an attempt to avoid attachment altogether. They view themselves as self-sufficient and invulnerable to feelings associated with being closely attached to others. They often deny needing close relationships.

Fearful-avoidant: People with this attachment style have mixed feelings about close relationships. They desire to have emotionally close relationships but they tend to feel uncomfortable with emotional closeness. These feelings can be combined with unconscious, negative views about themselves and their attachments. They commonly view themselves as unworthy of responsiveness from their attachments, and they don't trust the intentions of their attachments. Caused by trauma like sexual abuse at a young age, etc.