(Queen’s University)
“Digging in” or “Giving in”: Attachment-Related Threat Moderates the Association between Attachment Orientation and Reactions to Conflict
Prior research suggests that individuals higher in attachment anxiety react to conflict in a more hostile manner than those lower in attachment anxiety. Although less pronounced, there is also evidence that attachment anxiety is associated with submissive behavior in conflict. Thus, the literature presents a paradox, as attachment anxiety is associated with both domineering and submissive responses to relationship conflict. I propose that attachment-related threat moderates the effects of attachment orientations on conflict behavior, such that under conditions of low threat attachment anxiety would be associated with dominance, whereas under conditions of high threat attachment anxiety would be associated with submission. Further, I expected that this interaction between attachment anxiety and threat condition would be stronger for individuals lower in attachment avoidance, relative to those higher in avoidance. I will discuss a program of research investigating how attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and threat interact to predict responses to relationship conflict.