What Attachment Styles and Love Styles Add to the Understanding of Relationship Commitment and Stability

Abstract

Intends to show that the classic model of how commitment contributes to relationship stability can be enhanced by a systematic consideration of individual differences that are theoretically relevant to relationship processes and outcomes. The basic features of the interdependence model of commitment and relationship functioning is sketched out, and 2 studies of breakup are presented. 354 dating couples served as Ss. Next, the author reviews the literature on adult attachment styles and examines data suggesting that both anxious and avoidant attachment styles, as conditioned by gender, enhance the prediction of couple breakup and unexpected stability. A parallel analysis of the literature on love styles as predictors of couple satisfaction, commitment, and stability is conducted. Finally, the author examines both the possibility that some of the Love Attitude Scale (LAS) measures, such as Mania, exhibit the gender-conditioned predictiveness of couple breakup found for anxious attachment, and that the LAS measures function primarily as surrogates for measures of romantic satisfaction and commitment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)