Attachment insecurity and the quality of steady dating relationships among late adolescents: The role of causal and responsibility attributions
Abstract
The current thesis examined the “effects” of anxious and avoidant attachment on multiple measures of relationship quality and whether causal and responsibility attributions mediate the relations between indices of insecure attachment and relationship quality. Thirty-three late adolescent couples completed self-report measures of insecure attachment, negative relationship attributions, and relationship satisfaction. In addition, they participated in a 10-minute Problem Resolution task that was videotaped. More anxious attachment predicted more negative communication behaviors of males. More avoidant attachment was linked to more negative causal attributions. More negative attributions of both types predicted less relationship quality across measures. The effects of anxious attachment on negative communication behaviors became nonsignificant after controlling for negative responsibility attributions.
Subject Area
Behaviorial sciences|Social psychology|Developmental psychology
Recommended Citation
McKoy, Costella Roberts, "Attachment insecurity and the quality of steady dating relationships among late adolescents: The role of causal and responsibility attributions" (2006). ETD Collection for Fayetteville State University. AAI1449353.
https://digitalcommons.uncfsu.edu/dissertations/AAI1449353