General and Specific Attachment Representations in Adulthood: Is there a Relationship?

Abstract

Social and relational research assessing adult attachment often appears to be based on the assumption that adults operate, in their interpersonal relationships, with a single internal working model of attachment. The current investigation explored attachment from an alternative perspective. We hypothesized that most adults will rate their attachment orientations differently depending on the relationship context in which the ratings are taken. We also expected that general measures of attachment, taken outside the context of specific relationships, would vary from attachment ratings adults report when they are referring to specific attachment relationships. Two hundred and twenty-four participants responded to a survey containing standardized measures (RQ: Bartholomew, 1990; Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991) assessing Secure, Fearful, Preoccupied, and Dismissing attachment styles in four self-identified attachment relationships. The RQ was also used to measure general attachment orientations. Results indicated that the majority of adults rated themselves differently on each of the Secure, Fearful, Preoccupied, and Dismissing dimensions of the RQ across their various attachment relationships and that attachment ratings measured in response to specific attachment relationships were not equivalent to the attachment ratings measured outside the context of specific attachment relationships. This study sheds light on the associations between specific and general attachment tendencies and raises some concerns about conceptualization and measurement of adult attachment.