Making Sense of ‘Us’: Mechanisms Linking Attachment Avoidance and Couple Identity Clarity

Abstract

Just as people strive to understand their own individual identities—to form a clear and coherent sense of who they are—they also seek to gain a clear understanding of who and what they are as a couple. However, some people may struggle in this goal; specifically, people high in attachment avoidance, who face barriers unique to the specific nature of their insecurity. We investigated whether attachment avoidance is negatively correlated with couple identity clarity and tested potential mechanisms for this association. We proposed that less interpersonal closeness and self-verification from their partner would mediate the association between attachment avoidance and couple identity clarity. We found support for these hypotheses across three studies (total N = 912). Thus, attachment avoidance may create identity-specific challenges in relationships.