The aim of the study was to determine the discrepancies between people who tend to abandon their partners in close relationships and people who are involved in longterm relationships in: love attitudes (Ludus-game playing love, Eros-passionate love, Storge-friendship love, Pragma-practical love, Mania-possessive love, Agapealtruistic love), psychological femininity and masculinity, Machiavellianism, narcissism, and emotional intelligence. participants and procedure The subjects included 60 adults who reject their partners in close relationships and a reference group of 60 adults who were involved in a close relationship. The participants had qualified as rejectors when they: described themselves as "rejectors"; declared that they were not in a romantic relationship or were in one that lasts no longer than one year, claimed that in their relationships history they had rejected their partners more often compared to when they had been rejected.

In this paper, the problem of the lack of stability of intimate female-male relationships, the intensity of which is currently increasing, is presented. Attention is focused on early-childhood attachment styles and anxiety in rejecters in intimate relationships. participants and procedure The research included 120 individuals: 60 individuals who had dropped 3-15 partners (on average, M = 3.77 partners) and 60 individuals from the control group. The following research tools were applied: the Attachment Styles Inventory, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). results The results showed that rejecters in intimate relationships obtained higher results than individuals from the control group in an avoidant and an anxious-ambivalent attachment style, and lower ones in a secure attachment style, as well as higher ones in anxiety as a trait. Sex itself was not a differentiating factor in any of the studied variables. An avoidant attachment style, and anxiety as a trait, were predictors of being a rejecter. conclusions The obtained results confirm the fundamental findings of the theory of attachment indicating that the lower the level of a secure style is, the lower is the level of interpersonal skills.