Attachment style in married couples: Relation to current marital functioning, stability over time, and method

We examined several aspects of attachment in marriage, including the association among attachment style, mental models of the spouse, satisfaction, affect regulation within the marriage, the stability of attachment style, and its operationalization. Fifty-three married couples completed initial assessments, and 44 particip in a 24-month follow-up. Attachment style was related to positive and negative affect immediately prcccding a potentially stressful event and to the mental model of the spouse. Approximately 35% of the subjects changed their attachment style rating over a 2-year period; later attachment style was related to changes in mental models of the spouse. Categorical and dimensional measures of attachment style did not yield equivalent results. The implications of these findings for future research are discussed. Interest in the association between attachment style and romantic relationships (e.g., Collins & Kead, 1990; Feeney & Noller, 1990; Hazan & Shaver, 1987; Pistole, 1989; Simpson, 1990) has recently been extended to the study of marriage (e.g., Feeney, Noller, & Callan, 1994; Kobak & Hazan, 1991; Senchak & Leonard, 1992). Because marital relationships differ from dating relationships in a number of ways that may moderate the association between attachment and relationship functioning (e.g., level of formal commitment, the ease of termination of the relationship), a study was conducted to examine attachment among married couples. Specifically, the study was broad-ranging and attempted to (1) examine the extent to which adult attachment styles are related to beliefs about the spouse; (2) investigate the relationship between attachment style and affect regulation; (3) explore how the attachment processes of assimilation and accommodation may influence marital functioning over time; (4) document the association between attachment style and marital satisfaction; and ( 5 ) examine conceptual issues concerning the assessment of attachment style. Attachment Style and Mental Models of Attachment Figures Attachment theory proposes that children with secure attachment styles, whose attempts to achieve physical proximity and/or felt security have been consistently met by caregivers, will develop internal models of attachment figures as dependable and psychologically available. In contrast, children with insecure attachment styles, whose bids for security have been either ignored or rebuffed (leading to avoidant attachments) or responded to inconsistently (leading to ambivalent attachments), will acquire models of others as rejecting or inconsistent. Once formed, these models then guide the individual’s expectations concerning partner availability in future relationships (Bowlby,