Attachment processes in adult romantic relationships

Author, Researcher, or Creator

Lindsey Beck, Emerson CollegeFollow

Affiliation of Author, Researcher, or Creator

Marlboro Institute of Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies

Department

Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies

Author(s)

Pietromonaco, P. R., & Beck, L. A.

Resource Type

Book Chapter

Publication, Publisher or Distributor

American Psychological Association

Publication Date

2015

Related Information

https://doi.org/10.1037/14344-002

Brief Description

We begin this chapter with an overview of attachment theory, including the main tenets of Bowlby’s (1969) original theory as well as later extensions to adult romantic relationships. We provide an updated theoretical statement that incorporates Bowlby’s original theory and Hazan and Shaver’s (1987) provocative extension to adult romantic relationships as well as additional theoretical revisions from more than 2 decades of theoretical development and empirical findings. We review and evaluate research following from attachment theory that has demonstrated that attachment shapes (a) how people experience and regulate emotion, (b) how they think about their romantic relationships, (c) their motives and goals in those relationships, (d) how they behave and interact with their partners (e.g., how they provide and seek support), and (e) how they initiate and maintain relationships and respond to relationship dissolution or loss. Finally, we discuss several emerging themes and promising directions for future research, including expanding on a person-in-context approach to attachment processes, investigating how partners may promote change or stability in each other’s attachment representations, exploring interactions between attachment and temperament or personality, and examining the implications of attachment for both partners’ health-related processes and outcomes.

Keywords

close relationships, romantic relationships, adult attachment

Recommended Citation

Pietromonaco, P. R., & Beck, L. A. (2015). Attachment processes in adult romantic relationships. In M. Mikulincer, P. R. Shaver, J. A. Simpson, & J. F. Dovidio (Eds.), APA handbook of personality and social psychology (Vol. 3): Interpersonal relations (pp. 33-64). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14344-002

Preferred Citation Style

APA

Peer Reviewed

1

License Agreement

1

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