Adult attachment has been studied as an important predictor of romantic relationship quality in many empirical studies. This meta‐analysis quantitatively summarized the associations between the two insecure adult attachment dimensions, anxiety and avoidance, and cognitive, emotional, and behavioral indicators of romantic relationship quality based on 73 previous studies with 118 independent samples of 21 602 individuals. More importantly, we examined the different effects of anxiety and avoidance on relationship quality. We also tested the potential moderating effects of gender on the strength of these associations. Meta‐analytic results confirmed that both anxiety and avoidance were detrimental to the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects of relationship quality. Compared with anxiety, avoidance was more negatively associated with general satisfaction, connectedness, and general support in relationships. In contrast, anxiety was more positively associated with general conflict in relationships. The moderating effect of gender was weak. However, supplementary analyses found that the type of couple interaction measures (self‐report versus observation) significantly moderated the relations between insecure attachments and the behavioral indicators of relationship quality. Our results integrate and extend previous findings about the dynamics of adult attachment and romantic relationship quality. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The results suggest that, across countries, enhancing trust toward others may be one mechanism through which older adults maintain emotional connectedness with others. Future studies are encouraged to investigate the mechanism underlying the age differences in trust.

Marital satisfaction is gaining increasing concern in modern society. The current review proposes the dynamic goal theory of marital satisfaction to integrate previous findings about marital satisfaction from a life span developmental perspective. The theory argues that people have multiple goals to achieve in their marriage. These marital goals can be classified into three categories: personal growth goals, companionship goals, and instrumental goals. The priority of the three types of marital goals is under dynamic changes across adulthood. Generally speaking, young couples emphasize the personal growth goals, middle-aged couples prioritize the instrumental goals, and old couples focus on the companionship goals. Whether the prioritized marital goals are achieved in marriage determines marital satisfaction. Other factors influencing marital satisfaction can be linked with marital goals in two ways. Some factors, such as life transitions and cultural values, can affect the priority of different marital goals; while other factors, such as communication pattern, problem solving, and attribution, can facilitate the achievement of the prioritized marital goals.

Age, type of support, and source of support should be considered when studying the relationships between support balance and psychological well-being.

The current research proposed the concept of dynamic relationship orientation and tested it as a mediator accounting for the relation between the within-individual variations of perceived stress and interpersonal interactions in close relationships. Communal and exchange orientation were considered to be two interaction schemas that could be dynamically activated in different relationships across different situations. Participants’ daily stress and interaction with their mother and romantic partner were measured for 14 consecutive days. Results confirmed that lower activation of the communal schema on a day significantly mediated the negative association between daily perceived stress and constructive interactions in both relationships. The findings supported the important role of dynamic relationship orientation in linking situational factors with interpersonal interactions. The concept of dynamic relationship orientation provides a new theoretical framework to integrate research on contextual factors and relationship dynamics.