Examining change in attachment in romantic couples: The role of relationship characteristics and codevelopment between partners.

IF 6.4 1区心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL

Journal of personality and social psychology Pub Date : 2025-04-24 DOI:10.1037/pspp0000558

Alex Christoph Traut,Fabian Gander,Maximiliane Uhlich,Rebekka Weidmann,William J Chopik,Alexander Grob

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Attachment insecurity is associated with important relationship outcomes, well-being, and mental health. Attachment has long been considered a stable trait, but recent findings indicate that attachment insecurity decreases over time among adults in romantic relationships. Although theoretical considerations suggest that positive experiences within these relationships should contribute to changes in attachment, little is known about the specific characteristics that foster attachment security. Using a longitudinal dyadic sample of well-established couples (N = 1,036 couples; MRelationship Duration = 8.6 years, MAge = 32.9 years), this study aims to (a) examine changes in attachment anxiety and avoidance in adults in a romantic relationship over 20 months, (b) explore the codevelopment of attachment between partners, and (c) investigate actor and partner effects of relationship characteristics (i.e., relationship satisfaction, commitment, support, closeness, responsiveness, and disclosure) on changes in attachment. Dyadic growth curve models indicated small but significant decreases in anxiety over time in women. No codevelopment between partners was observed. Further, changes in attachment were largely unrelated to baseline relationship characteristics with few exceptions: Women with highly committed and responsive partners showed weaker declines in anxiety, likely due to higher initial anxiety levels. However, changes in anxiety were negatively associated with relationship duration. These findings suggest that avoidance remains stable and uninfluenced by relationship characteristics, while anxiety decreases slightly only in women, independent of partner codevelopment. This highlights that attachment insecurity partially changes over time during the course of a romantic relationship but is largely unaffected by relationship dynamics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

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考察浪漫夫妻依恋的变化：关系特征和伴侣之间共同发展的作用。

依恋不安全感与重要的关系结果、幸福感和心理健康有关。长期以来，依恋一直被认为是一种稳定的特征，但最近的研究结果表明，在恋爱关系中的成年人中，依恋不安全感随着时间的推移而减少。虽然理论上的考虑表明，这些关系中的积极经历应该有助于依恋的改变，但对促进依恋安全的具体特征知之甚少。采用纵向双元样本(N = 1,036对夫妇；（关系持续时间= 8.6年，年龄= 32.9年），本研究旨在(a)研究20个月恋爱关系中成人依恋焦虑和回避的变化，(b)探讨伴侣间依恋的共同发展，(c)研究关系特征（即关系满意度、承诺、支持、亲密、反应和披露）对依恋变化的行为者和伴侣的影响。二元增长曲线模型显示，随着时间的推移，女性的焦虑程度虽小但显著下降。没有观察到合作伙伴之间的共同发展。此外，依恋的变化在很大程度上与基本的关系特征无关，只有少数例外：拥有高度忠诚和反应迅速的伴侣的女性，焦虑的下降程度较弱，可能是由于最初的焦虑水平较高。然而，焦虑的变化与关系持续时间呈负相关。这些研究结果表明，逃避情绪保持稳定，不受关系特征的影响，而焦虑情绪仅在女性中略有下降，不受伴侣共同发展的影响。这强调了在恋爱过程中，依恋不安全感会随着时间的推移而部分改变，但在很大程度上不受关系动态的影响。（PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA，版权所有）。

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来源期刊

Journal of personality and social psychology PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL-

CiteScore

12.70

自引率

3.90%

发文量

250

期刊介绍： Journal of personality and social psychology publishes original papers in all areas of personality and social psychology and emphasizes empirical reports, but may include specialized theoretical, methodological, and review papers.Journal of personality and social psychology is divided into three independently edited sections. Attitudes and Social Cognition addresses all aspects of psychology (e.g., attitudes, cognition, emotion, motivation) that take place in significant micro- and macrolevel social contexts.