The Effects of Attachment Styles on Relationship Functioning

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infants' behaviour when they meet with the mother after a period of separation (Strange Situation, 1978), and came up with three attachment styles as; secure, avoidant and anxious/ambivalent. (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, and Wall, 1978)
In the light of this brief overview, this paper will look at three essays in detail which investigate the influence of attachment styles on adult romantic relationship functioning. The three essays I will focus on are; “Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process” by Cindy Hazan and Philip Shaver (1987), “Influence of attachment styles on romantic relationships” by Jeffry A. Simpson (1990), and “Attachment style, interpersonal perception accuracy, and relationship satisfaction in dating couples” by Joan S. Tucker and Sherry L. Anders (1999).
Adaptation of love to the attachment theory approach is first developed by Hazan and Shaver (1987), when they proposed that these three attachment styles developed by Ainsworth also exist in adulthood and form the basis of adult attachment styles and the way they conceptualize romantic relationships. Since 1987, the results Hazan and Shaver found (which will be discussed in detail below) have been replicated by many investigators. (e.g., Collins & Read, 1990; Feeney & Noller, 1990; Hazan & Shaver, 1990; Shaver & Brennan, 1995). Collins and Read (1990) broke Hazan and Shaver’s descriptions into separate clusters and turned each into statements to assess the extent to which an individual is comfortable with closeness, feels he or she can depend on others, and is anxious or fearful about such things as being abandoned or unloved. Results revealed that the attachment styles were strongly related to how each partner perceived the relationship. The best predictor of relationship quality for women was the extent to which their partner was comfortable with closeness, and for men, it was the extent to which their partner was anxious about being aban...