Psychology
Attachment styles: what the research actually says
Attachment theory is solid science, but the four “styles” online are a simplification. They are sliding scales, not fixed types, and they can change.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Attachment
Also known as Attachment theory, Attachment style, Attachment styles
The emotional bond a child forms with the people who care for them, and the patterns of closeness and trust it shapes later in life. Attachment styles are research ideas, not diagnoses.
In Psychology
Attachment is the lasting emotional bond a baby forms with the adults who look after them. The psychiatrist John Bowlby developed attachment theory to explain why babies cry and search when separated from a carer; Mary Ainsworth then described secure, anxious and avoidant patterns by watching how infants reacted to a short separation and reunion.
In 1987 researchers began applying the same ideas to adult relationships, which is where the popular "attachment styles" come from. Modern research treats adult attachment as two sliding scales — worry about being abandoned, and discomfort with closeness — rather than four fixed boxes. It is only modestly stable from infancy to adulthood, and it can shift with new relationships and with therapy. Read more on attachment styles.
Where this comes up
Related terms
- TraumaPsychological trauma, Emotional traumaAn event or series of events frightening or harmful enough to overwhelm a person's ability to cope, and the lasting effects it can leave. Most people exposed to trauma recover.
- Adverse childhood experiencesACEs, ACE scorePotentially traumatic events in the first 18 years of life, such as abuse, neglect or violence at home. They raise the risk of later health problems, but they do not decide a child's future.
- CodependencyCo-dependency, CodependentA popular term for a pattern of putting another person's needs, moods and problems so far ahead of your own that you lose yourself. It is not a formal diagnosis.
- Emotional regulationEmotion regulation, Emotional dysregulationThe ability to notice, understand and manage emotions — how strongly they are felt, how long they last and how they are expressed — so they do not take over. It is a skill that can be learned.