Social Support is a Balancing Act: Mitigating Attachment Anxiety by Supporting Independence and Dependence

Abstract

Due to the personal and relationship costs associated with attachment anxiety, there has been substantial interest in identifying factors that reduce attachment anxiety over time and buffer attachment anxiety in the moment. We integrated the Attachment Security Enhancement Model (ASEM) and the dependency paradox based in attachment theory to derive novel predictions about how perceived partner support predicts attachment anxiety prospectively (one year later) and concurrently. Newlyweds ( N = 326) reported their perceptions that their partners support their personal goals (i.e., perceived support for independence needs) and their perceptions that their partners provide reassurance/responsiveness (i.e., perceived support for dependence needs). We found that greater perceived support for personal goals predicted decreases in attachment anxiety over one year only among people who also perceived high partner reassurance/responsiveness, consistent with the idea that support for independence is most effective when partners also support dependence needs. We also observed evidence that this pattern was most pronounced among people with higher attachment anxiety. Regarding concurrent links, we found that perceiving greater partner reassurance/responsiveness predicted lower concurrent attachment anxiety, whereas perceived support for independent goals did not. Together, these findings extend the ASEM by highlighting that attachment anxiety declines over time when partners are perceived to support one’s needs for independence and dependence simultaneously.

Perceptions of oneself and one’s spouse following a stressor discussion predicting attachment insecurity over one year

“…The recently proposed Attachment Security Enhancement Model (ASEM; Arriaga et al, 2018) specifies distinct pathways through which attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance can decline over time to foster attachment security. The current research tests propositions of the ASEM and adds to a growing list of work supporting and extending its theoretically-grounded framework of attachment change (e.g., Arriaga et al, 2021;Bayraktaroglu et al, 2022;Gazder & Stanton, 2022;Jakubiak et al, 2022;Rholes et al, 2021).…”

Attachment insecurity, heart rate variability, and perceived social support in a diverse sample of young adults

“…In adults, attachment anxiety presents with a higher negative self-image, an uncontrollable deep concern of abandonment, and a persistent need for affirmation from others (Moore and Leung, 2002;Crowell et al, 2008). As such, attachment insecurity is robustly associated with perceived social support (Anders and Tucker, 2000;Collins and Feeney, 2004;Jakubiak et al, 2023). For example, higher attachment avoidance is associated with lower perceived social support, and this pattern is similar yet slightly weaker for the association of attachment anxiety with perceived social support (Mallinckrodt and Wei, 2005;Mikulincer and Shaver, 2009;Stanton and Campbell, 2014).…”