Are one's attachment avoidance toward a particular person and his/her placement of this particular person in the attachment hierarchy inversely overlapping? Four bifactor-analysis studies

PLoS One. 2021 Jan 4;16(1):e0244278. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0244278. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Do one's hierarchical preference for attachment support from a particular person over other people (attachment hierarchy) and his/her discomfort with closeness and uneasiness about being dependent on that particular person (attachment avoidance) inversely overlap? These two constructs have been distinctly conceptualized. Attachment hierarchy has been regarded as a normative characteristic of attachment relationships, while attachment avoidance has been considered to reflect an individual difference of relationship quality. Employing bifactor analyses, we demonstrated a unidimensional general factor of these two concepts in four studies exploring Czech young adults' relationships with mother, father, friends, and romantic partner (Study 1); U.S. young adults' relationships with a romantic partner (Study 2); Czech adolescents' relationships with mother, father, and friends (Study 3); and Japanese young adults' relationships with mother, father, and romantic partner (Study 4). These convergent results provide the replicable and generalizable evidence that one's attachment avoidance toward a particular person and her/his placement of that particular person in the attachment hierarchy are inversely overlapping.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Courtship / psychology*
  • Fathers / psychology
  • Female
  • Friends / psychology
  • Humans
  • Interpersonal Relations
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Mothers / psychology
  • Object Attachment*
  • Parent-Child Relations
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

T.U., A.C., and L.L. received grant from Czech Science Foundation (16-03059S; https://gacr.cz/) to conduct the research project in Study 3. T.U. is also supported by supported by the HIRAKU-Global Program, which is funded by MEXT’s “Strategic Professional Development Program for Young Researchers.” L.L. also received another grant from Czech Science Foundation (Czech Science Foundation; GAP407/12/0854) for Study 1. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.