Jeffry A. Simpson, in the article “Influence of attachment styles on romantic relationships” (1990) said, “Study of individual differences in attachment styles is likely to contribute significantly to our understanding of why close relationships vary in both their quality and interpersonal nature.” Recent research in the past few decades has proposed that the attachment style a person has which is developed by the childhood relationships with parents and important attachment figures is an important determinant in the experience of romantic love in later years. There has been increasing scientific support that attachment plays an important role in adult attachment and romantic relationships. In this respect, this paper will focus on the effects of attachment styles of adults in relationship functioning and satisfaction. In this respect the research question I will be focusing on will be “How do the attachment styles in adults affect relationship functioning and satisfaction?”

I first see the need to form a conceptual background on the issue of attachment. The emotional bond between infants and their mothers can be seen in both humans as well as in many oth

Adaptation of love to the attachment theory approach is first developed by Hazan and Shaver (1987), when they proposed that these three attachment styles developed by Ainsworth also exist in adulthood and form the basis of adult attachment styles and the way they conceptualize romantic relationships. Since 1987, the results Hazan and Shaver found (which will be discussed in detail below) have been replicated by many investigators. (e.g., Collins & Read, 1990; Feeney & Noller, 1990; Hazan & Shaver, 1990; Shaver & Brennan, 1995). Collins and Read (1990) broke Hazan and Shaver’s descriptions into separate clusters and turned each into statements to assess the extent to which an individual is comfortable with closeness, feels he or she can depend on others, and is anxious or fearful about such things as being abandoned or unloved. Results revealed that the attachment styles were strongly related to how each partner perceived the relationship. The best predictor of relationship quality for women was the extent to which their partner was comfortable with closeness, and for men, it was the extent to which their partner was anxious about being abandoned or unloved.

The results revealed by Simpson are in accordance with the results of Hazan and Shaver (1987), indicating that secure, anxious and avoidant styles of attachment seem to be associated with different romantic relationship practices. Securely attached people were more likely to be involved in relationships having higher levels of interdependence, trust, commitment and satisfaction. Insecurely attached people on the contrary tended to have relationships having lower levels of the same features. Highly avoidant subjects reported their relationship as less interdependent and less committed than highly anxious subjects, whereas highly anxious subjects considered their relationship as possessing less trust. Likewise, people who have secure attachment styles reported they had more frequent positive emotions and less frequent negative emotions. However, the opposite was true for the insecurely attached, anxious and avoidant subjects, they reported feeling more frequent negative emotions for their current relationships. When we look at the results from the second phase of the study considering the attachment styles and the distress felt after the breakup (postdissolution emotional stress) the six-month follow-up interviews give us the fact that among the ones who broke up, avoidant men reported experiencing less postdissolution emotional stress than did other people. A possible explanation put forward for this finding is that since avoidant people try hard to inhibit negative experiences (George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985; cited in Simpson, 1990) and since men in general tend to suppress strong emotions, then it seems reasonable that avoidant men, but not women experience less intense emotional distress after dissolution.

The second article to be examined is “Influence of attachment styles on romantic relationships” by Jeffry A. Simpson (1990). Simpson indicates that this study is based on the examination of the impact of three attachment styles on romantic relationship functioning. The hypotheses he sets forward mention that people who exhibit different attachment styles should be involved in different kinds of romantic relationships, and they should develop relationships that systematically differ in their emotional tone. As Ainsworth revealed (Ainsworth et al., 1978) infants with different attachment styles display different reactions when separated from their primary caregivers, as is the case in the Strange Situation. Whereas avoidant children express the most detachment compared to the other two types when separated, the anxious children exhibit very high levels of protest and anger. Taking these into account, Simpson hypothesized that avoidantly attached adults would experience less emotional distress when the relationship is over, whereas anxiously attached adults would

Some topics in this essay:
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