Information seeking in attachment style romantic relationships

Abstract

This study examined how a person's attachment style affects the type of information he or she is attuned to within a relationship. Specifically, this study assessed whether an individual is more likely to search for positive or negative information about a relationship when in a stressful situation and offered either a supportive or unsupportive note from a romantic partner. As hypothesized, a high degree of attachment ambivalence and an unsupportive note predicted more negative information seeking about relationship items. No hypotheses were formed for attachment avoidance, and the degree of avoidance alone did not significantly predict information seeking. However, not condition and relationship satisfaction contributed to several interactions with both attachment ambivalence and avoidance. These findings are discussed in terms of attachment theory.