Support seeking and support giving within couples in an anxiety-provoking situation: The role of attachment styles.

Abstract

This study examined how adult attachment styles moderate spontaneous behavior between dating couples when 1 member of the dyad is confronted with an anxiety-provoking situation. Eighty-three dating couples were unobtrusively videotaped for 5 min in a waiting room while the woman waited to participate in an activity known to provoke anxiety in most people. Independent observers then evaluated each partner's behavior on several dimensions. Results revealed that persons with more secure attachment styles behaved differently than persons with more avoidant styles in terms of physical contact, supportive comments, and efforts to seek and give emotional support. Findings are discussed in the context of theory and research on attachment. Recently, a growing number of researchers have begun to explore how different attachment styles influence what transpires within adult relationships (e.g., Collins & Read, 1990; Feeney & Noller, 1990; Hazan & Shaver, 1987; Levy & Davis, 1988; Simpson, 1990). Virtually all of this research has been guided by Bowlby's (1969,1973,1980) attachment theory. Bowlby sought to understand why infants forge strong emotional bonds to their primary caregivers and why they often exhibit pronounced anxiety and distress when they are separated from them. Adopting an evolutionary- ethological perspective, he argued that the specific sequence of behavioral and emotional reactions associated with separation—protest, despair, and detachment—might reflect the operation of an innate attachment system designed to promote close physical contact between vulnerable infants and their primary caregivers. By maintaining close proximity with their caregivers, infants would be more likely to survive, to reproduce, and ultimately to pass attachment and proximity-seeking propensities on to subsequent generations. Although the tendency to seek proximity seems to be universal in infants, its development and elaboration over time is sensitive to specific environmental conditions, especially transactions between the infant and his or her primary caregiver. Past empirical research has examined characteristic patterns of attachment behavior that develop between infants and their caregivers that signify different types of infant-caregiver relationships. Using the Strange Situation paradigm, Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, and Wall (1978) identified three primary patterns

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