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Adult attachment, stress, and romantic relationships
Open accessAbstract
In this article, we discuss theory and research on how individuals who have insecure adult romantic attachment orientations typically think, feel, and behave when they or their romantic partners encounter certain types of chronic or acute stress. We first review basic principles of attachment theory and then discuss how two forms of attachment insecurity-anxiety and avoidance-are associated with unique patterns of emotion regulation in response to certain types of threatening/distressing situations. We then discuss a diathesis-stress process model that has guided our research, highlighting studies that provide support for certain pathways of the model.
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“Secure attachment is linked to higher trust and responsibility (Simpson & Rholes, 2017), better intimacy (Pielage, Luteijn, & Arrindell, 2005), elevated selfconfidence, better communication skills (Guerrero, 1996), and a higher tendency for selfdisclosure (Sampthirao, 2016).”
From THE ROLE OF INTIMACY, BELONGING, SELF-ESTEEM INTHE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN ANXIOUS, AVOIDANT ATTACHMENT AND FORGIVENESS AMONG MARRIED IRANIAN WOMEN (2021) · cites this paper as Simpson & Rholes, 2017
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“Rumination is associated with negative emotional experiences in relationships [19], challenges resolving conflict [22], and increased rates of emotional distress and psychopathology [21].”
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Self-citationAttachment Style, Excessive Reassurance Seeking, Relationship Processes, and Depression
Shaver, P. R., Schachner, D. A., & Mikulincer, M. (2005) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167204271709 · Cited by 288 · cited 1×
“Thus, they are motivated to increase their deficient sense of felt security [12], which leads them to act in ways that sometimes smother or drive their partners away [16].”
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Simpson, J. A., Rholes, W. S., Oriña, M. M., & Grich, J. (2002) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167202288004 · Cited by 258 · cited 1×
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Self-citationAdult attachment, the transition to parenthood, and depressive symptoms.
Simpson, J. A., Rholes, W. S., Campbell, L., Tran, S., & Wilson, C. L. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.84.6.1172 · Cited by 251 · cited 1×
“Indeed, highly anxious women enter the transition to parenthood perceiving lower levels of spousal support, which predicts sharper declines in marital satisfaction [41,42] and increases in depressive symptoms [43,44] across the transition.”
Self-citationAdult romantic attachment: Developments in the study of couple relationships.
Feeney, J. A. (2008) · Cited by 251
Adult attachment and the transition to parenthood.
Rholes, W. S., Simpson, J. A., Campbell, L., & Grich, J. (2001) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.81.3.421 · Cited by 234 · cited 1×
“Indeed, highly anxious women enter the transition to parenthood perceiving lower levels of spousal support, which predicts sharper declines in marital satisfaction [41,42] and increases in depressive symptoms [43,44] across the transition.”
Self-citationFraley, R. C., Garner, J. P., & Shaver, P. R. (2000) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.79.5.816 · Cited by 229
Adult Attachment Orientations, Stress, and Romantic Relationships
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Self-citationOverall, N. C., Simpson, J. A., & Struthers, H. (2013) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0031798 · Cited by 152
Self-citationWorking models of attachment and reactions to different forms of caregiving from romantic partners.
Simpson, J. A., Winterheld, H. A., Rholes, W. S., & Oriña, M. M. (2007) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.93.3.466 · Cited by 152
Self-citationPartner Buffering of Attachment Insecurity
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Self-citationProrelationship maintenance behaviors: The joint roles of attachment and commitment.
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Self-citationCampbell, L., Simpson, J. A., Kashy, D. A., & Rholes, W. S. (2001) · Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · doi:10.1177/0265407501186005 · Cited by 139 · cited 1×
“Highly avoidant and highly anxious individuals, however, are less inclined to think, feel, and behave in line with their insecure working models when they are more dependent on their partners/relationships [46] or are involved with more committed partners [34].”
Self-citationAttachment and the Management of Empathic Accuracy in Relationship-Threatening Situations
Simpson, J. A., Kim, J. S., Fillo, J., Ickes, W. J., Rholes, W. S., Oriña, M. M., & Winterheld, H. A. (2011) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167210394368 · Cited by 115
Self-citationChanges in Marital Satisfaction Across the Transition to Parenthood
Kohn, J. L., Rholes, S. W., Simpson, J. A., Martin, A., Tran, S., & Wilson, C. L. (2012) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167212454548 · Cited by 112 · cited 2×
“Indeed, highly anxious women enter the transition to parenthood perceiving lower levels of spousal support, which predicts sharper declines in marital satisfaction [41,42] and increases in depressive symptoms [43,44] across the transition.”
Self-citationTaubman‐Ben‐Ari, O., Findler, L., & Mikulincer, M. (2002) · British Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1348/014466602760344296 · Cited by 110 · cited 1×
“Laboratory experiments have also shown that just thinking about the ultimate separation — death — is less likely to promote proximity-seeking in insecurely compared to securely attached people [23,24].”
Attachment orientations and depression: A longitudinal study of new parents.
Rholes, W. S., Simpson, J. A., Kohn, J. L., Wilson, C. L., Martin, A., Tran, S., & Kashy, D. A. (2011) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0022802 · Cited by 108
Self-citationMikulincer, M., & Florián, V. (1997) · Anxiety Stress & Coping · doi:10.1080/10615809708249297 · Cited by 94 · cited 1×
“And at time-points when they are most distressed during difficult conversations, less anxious (more secure) individuals are more calmed when their partners give them emotional support, whereas highly avoidant individuals are more calmed by instrumental support [36,37].”
Fillo, J., Simpson, J. A., Rholes, W. S., & Kohn, J. L. (2015) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0038572 · Cited by 67
Self-citationAdults' attachment patterns: Coping with separations
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“When asked to imagine being permanently separated from their partners, highly anxious individuals have particularly strong negative emotional reactions, whereas highly avoidant individuals do not [26,27].”
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“When asked to imagine being permanently separated from their partners, highly anxious individuals have particularly strong negative emotional reactions, whereas highly avoidant individuals do not [26,27].”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Simpson, J. A., & Rholes, W. S.
- Affiliations
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Texas A&M University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Simpson, Jeffry A
- Rholes, W Steven
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Psychology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-02
- Volume
- 13
- Pages
- 19-24
- ISSN
- 2352-250X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4845754
- OpenAlex
- W2336040666
- Cited by
- 362
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 49 · 2025: 51 · 2024: 67 · 2023: 46 · 2022: 38 · 2021: 40 · 2020: 40 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 1.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01-MH49599)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Keywords
- adult attachment, insecure attachment, romantic relationships, attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, emotion regulation, stress, diathesis-stress model, chronic stress, acute stress
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anxiety, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Love, Models, Psychological, Object Attachment, Stress, Psychological
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