Attachment Style

Attachment Styles

How do you relate to significant others in your life?

Background

According to attachment theory and research, there are two fundamental ways in which people differ from one another in the way they think about their close relationships. First, some people are more anxious than others. People who are high in attachment-related anxiety tend to worry about whether others really love them and often fear rejection.

People low on this dimension are much less worried about such matters. Second, some people are more avoidant than others. People who are high in attachment-related avoidance are less comfortable depending on others and opening up to others.

Your Attachment Styles

We have plotted your anxiety and avoidance scores for each of the people you rated in the graph below. The two-dimensional space is defined by attachment-related anxiety (the horizontal axis) and avoidance (the vertical axis). Your approximate position in this

space for each relationship is denoted by the colored dots (G = General, M = Mother, D = Dad, P = Partner, and F = Friend). (Note: If you left any of the questions unanswered, then these scores will be inaccurate and might not even appear on the graph at all.)

The lower-left portion of the figure represents the secure region of the space. People who

are secure in their relationships are comfortable depending on others and having others depend on them. Moreover, they are relatively unconcerned about whether the other person truly cares about them. The upper-right portion represents the fearful-avoidant region of the space. People who

are fearfully avoidant in their relationships are uncomfortable depending on others and serving as an 'attachment figure.' Moreover, they worry that others may not be there emotionally when they are most needed. The upper-left represents the dismissing-avoidant area of the space. People who are dismissing in their relationships are also not comfortable opening up to others and depending on or having others depend on them. In addition, they are not concerned with the question of whether the other person truly cares about them.

The lower-right represents the preoccupied region of the space. People who are preoccupied in their relationships are worried that the other person is not or will not be

available when needed. They would like to depend on the other person and have that person depend on them, but feel that such dependence is not reciprocal.

The closer two people are in this graph, the more similarity there is in how you relate to them. If two people are on diametrically opposite sides of the graph, then it may be the

case that you mentally represent these people as psychological opposites.

We have also plotted your general or global attachment style. This represents how you think about close relationships in general, without reference to a specific person. Traditional approaches to studying adult attachment styles tend to focus on general attachment. But on this site we assess both general and relationship-specific

attachment styles because those styles do not always align perfectly. Some people might be secure in general, for example, but feel insecure in a romantic relationship. Or vice versa.

G = General , M = Mother , D = Dad , P = Partner , F = Friend

The table below summarizes your scores in a more quantitative fashion. Please note that Anxiety and Avoidance scores can range from 1 (low) to 5 (high).

Domain Anxiety Score Avoidance Score

General 3.67 3.17

Your mother or mother- like figure

1 2.67

Your father or father- like figure

3 4.83

Your romantic partner 2 2.67

Your best friend 3.67 3.33

How do Your Scores Compare to those of Other People?

The following figures show how your attachment pattern in each relationship domain

(e.g., General, Parents, Friend) compares with other peoples'. The figures are similar to the one shown above, with attachment anxiety running from low (left) to high (right) on the left-to-right axis and attachment avoidance running from low (bottom) to high (top) on the vertical axis. The solid lines represent the average score for people in the sample. For

example, the vertical line shows the average general anxiety score for people who have taken this survey. The density of the colors shows where people tend to be, with darker colors indicating that more people are clustered in that region of the space.

General Attachment

Your specific score is shown by the white circle. Your global attachment score is above the mean for both anxiety and avoidance.

Maternal Attachment

Your maternal attachment score is below the mean on both anxiety and avoidance.

Paternal Attachment

Your paternal attachment score is above the mean for both anxiety and avoidance.

Romantic Attachment

Your romantic attachment score is below the mean for anxiety, but above the mean for avoidance.

Friend Attachment

Your friend attachment score is above the mean for both anxiety and avoidance.

The original graph showed your location relative to the midpoints of the scale. But one of the things that is interesting about plotting your scores in this space is that it allows you to see where you are relative to other people. The average person, for example, does not report high levels of attachment anxiety with their parents. As a result, a person might seem secure in the

original graph, but might seem less secure relative to other people.

Your Personality Traits

What are your personality traits? Are you kind, agreeable, and warm-hearted? Are you the life of the party?

One of the most popular models of personality differences in modern research is the Five

Factor Model (FFM). According to the FFM, the vast number of ways in which people can differ from one another with respects to their personalities can be summarized with respect to five core dimensions. :

• Extraversion (E) - A tendency to experience or express energy, positive emotions, surgency, assertiveness,

sociability and the tendency to seek stimulation in the company of others, and talkativeness.

• Agreeableness (A) - A tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and

antagonistic towards others. It is also a measure of one's trusting and helpful nature, and whether a person is

generally well tempered or not.

• Conscientiousness (C) - A tendency to be organized and dependable, show self-discipline, act dutifully, aim

for achievement, and prefer planned rather than spontaneous behavior.

• Neuroticism (N) - The tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily, such as anger, anxiety,

depression, and vulnerability. Neuroticism also refers to the degree of emotional stability and impulse

control and is sometimes referred to by its low pole, emotional stability.

• Openness to Experience (O) - An appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, curiosity, and

variety of experience. Openness reflects the degree of intellectual curiosity, creativity and a preference for

novelty and variety a person has. It is also described as the extent to which a person is imaginative or

independent, and depicts a personal preference for a variety of activities over a strict routine.

The personality trait survey you took, the Mini-IPIP, is designed to assess your standing on

each of the five personality dimensions.

Your personality scores are illustrated in the graph below. Dots are used to represent your score on each personality axis; lower scores are placed near the center and larger scores are

closer to the edge of the circle. Your scores are shown in purple. The average scores for other people who have taken this survey are illustrated in green.

The following table contains your numeric scores, along with the average score for people who have taken this survey. The scale runs from 1 (low) to 5 (high).

Trait Your Score Average Score

Extraversion 2 2.76

Agreeableness 2.75 4.09

Conscientiousness 3 3.4

Neuroticism 2.75 3.02

Openness 4 4.08

Relationship Functioning

People differ quite a bit in how well their romantic relationships function. Some people are highly satisfied in their relationships and are committed to making them work. Other people are less satisfied, but might be highly committed to their relationships nonetheless. The Investment Model Scale (IMS) is designed to assess four domains of relationship functioning that capture this kind of nuance:

• Commitment - The intent to persist in a relationship, a long-term orientation toward the relationship, or a

sense of attachment to the relationship partner.

• Satisfaction - The extent to which, overall, a person has positive or negative feelings about the relationship

• Quality of Alternatives - The perceived desirability of the best available alternative to the relationship.

• Investments - The magnitude and importance of the resources that are attached to a relationship. For

example, if one has invested a lot of time or money into building a relationship, it might be more difficult to

end that relationship.

The IMS survey is designed to assess each of these features of relationship functioning. Your score for each of these features is plotted below by the blue bar. Scores range from 1 (low; left side) to 5 (high; right side). For comparison, the average score for people who have taken this survey is shown by the black line. If the blue bar is further to the right than the black line,

then your score is above average. If the blue bar is further to the left than the black line, then your score is below average.

The following table contains your numeric scores, along with the average score for people who have taken this survey. The scores range from 1 (low) to 5 (high).

Relationship Dimension Your Score Average Score

Satisfaction 3 3.52

Commitment 4.33 4.24

Quality of Alternatives 3.67 2.61

Investment 2.33 3.25

About

We hope you enjoyed using this survey, and that you have learned something interesting about yourself and your relationships. Since the mid-1980s, a lot of research has been

conducted on attachment styles. To learn more about this research, please visit this link. Please note that, if you want a copy of these results, please print them, screenshot them, or save the page. Once you leave this page, the results will not be accessible unless you have created an account on our site.

This page was designed by R. Chris Fraley at the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois for educational and research purposes. If you have questions about this page, please feel free to e-mail me. I will try to respond to your e-mail, but please keep in mind that I cannot always do so due to time constraints. I am not in a position to provide counseling,

personal advice, referrals, or commentary regarding your specific scores.