Predictors of romantic relationship formation: Attachment style, prior relationships, and dating goals

This prospective study (N = 90) investigated the early formation of romantic relationships within an attachment-theoretical framework. Specifically, it tested whether general attachment to romantic partners was predictive of single individuals’ progressing from not dating to dating and from not dating or casual dating to a committed and exclusive relationship when simultaneously considering desire for starting a committed relationship, prior dating involvement, and self-perceived physical attractiveness. Attachment avoidance, but not anxiety, was predictive of not entering into committed dating relationships even with rival predictors included. The transition from not dating to casual or committed dating was mainly predicted by prior dating success with some support for a potential additional role of the desire to form a committed relationship. In the 1960s and 1970s, during the heyday of research on early romantic relationships, the focus was almost entirely on initial romantic attraction. With the inception of attachment theory as a major framework for Ines Schindler, Free University Berlin, Cluster of Excellence “Languages of Emotion”; Christopher P. Fagundes and Kyle W. Murdock, University of Utah, Department of Psychology. This study was conducted at the University of Utah by Ines Schindler, Cynthia A. Berg, and Christopher P. Fagundes and was supported by a research fellowship and research grant (SCHI 985/1-1 + 2-1) of the German Research Foundation (DFG) awarded to Ines Schindler. Ines Schindler was further supported by a return grant of the German Research Foundation (SCHI 985/3-1) while working on the paper. We are grateful to the many student assistants who helped run the study; in particular, we would like to thank Megan Gertsch, Kristina Stuart, Margarita Ramirez, Marvin Withaker, Reed Dow, Jennifer Smith, and Zachary Leifson. We are very grateful to the students who devoted their time and energy to participating in this study. Finally, we would like to thank Lisa Diamond for her helpful suggestions and comments on this paper. Correspondence should be addressed to Ines Schindler, Cluster of Excellence “Languages of Emotion,” Free University Berlin, Habelschwerdter Allee 45, 14195 Berlin, Germany, e-mail: [email protected]. studying romantic relationships, researchers shifted their attention toward the examination of intact relationship dynamics (Finkel, Eastwick, & Matthews, 2007). As a result of this shift, many early relationship processes outside of initial attraction remain underinvestigated—especially from an attachment perspective. In particular, we know very little concerning how people progress from not dating to casually dating and finally committing to a romantic partner (cf. Eastwick & Finkel, 2008a). In this prospective study, we employed attachment theory to predict who out of a group of single individuals would start to date or enter a committed romantic relationship in the near future. Adult attachment theory provides a framework for understanding individual differences in the degree to which people are comfortable utilizing a close other for security and support provisions (Fraley & Shaver, 2000). Although individual differences in attachment style have been shown to influence interpersonal functioning over the life course (see Diamond & Fagundes, 2008, for a review),