Attachment Style During a Partner’s Deployment with the United States Navy: Associations with Relational Satisfaction, Stress, and Changes over Time

Abstract

Separation from a loved one can trigger the attachment system and cause stress, especially for those with insecure attachment styles. The present study investigates how attachment style relates to the degree of stress and relational satisfaction individuals experience during one such situation—that of being separated from a partner who is on military deployment. Findings from a questionnaire distributed while participants’ partners were deployed show that secure attachment is positively related to relational satisfaction, whereas preoccupied and fearful attachment are negatively related to satisfaction. In addition, having a preoccupied or fearful attachment style is positively associated with experiencing deployment stress, whereas having a secure or dismissive style is negatively related to experiencing deployment stress. This study also addressed whether attachment style might change over the course of deployment and if affectionate writing would lead people to report becoming less insecure. Results from a quasi-experiment using a pre-test–post-test design showed that those who engaged in affectionate writing (versus innocuous writing or no writing) reported less preoccupied attachment over time. Both affectionate and innocuous writing led to less fearful attachment over time in comparison to a no-writing condition. Thus, communicating via writing may be an important tool for reducing attachment insecurity during military deployments.