Is Emerging Adults’ Attachment Preference for the Romantic Partner Transferred From Their Attachment Preferences for Their Mother, Father, and Friends?

Abstract

This study examined whether emerging adults' attachment preference for their romantic partner is complementary to their attachment preferences for their mother, father, and friends using a cross-sectional research design. Participants were 1,021 emerging adults recruited in the Czech Republic (mean age ¼ 21.46, SD ¼ 1.55) who filled out questionnaires. The attachment preference for the romantic partner correlated inversely with the attachment preference for friends but not with the preference for the mother or for the father. Our regression analyses revealed that emerging adults who were currently in a romantic relationship and had a longer romantic relationship were more likely to prefer their partner and less likely to prefer their friends. However, those emerging adults were not necessarily less likely to prefer their parents. For females, the length of romantic relationship was positively linked to their preferences for their mother. Hence, the results of this study accord with the claim that emerging adults' attachment preferences are shifted to the romantic partner only from friends and not from the parents.

Attachment hierarchies for Spanish adolescents: family, peers and romantic partner figures

“…Research has indicated that romantic partners increase in importance within the attachment hierarchy towards later adolescence (Rosenthal & Kobak, 2010). Young people who had been in a dating relationship for at least two years reported that their partner met the four primary attachment characteristics, whereas for those who had not 7 ATTACHMENT HIERARCHIES FOR SPANISH ADOLESCENTS been in a dating relationship for this length of time, family members continued to fulfil some of these characteristics (Hazan & Zeifman, 1999;Hazan, Zeifman & Middleton, 1994;Fearon & Roisman, 2017;Umemura et al, 2014).…”

“…ATTACHMENT HIERARCHIES FOR SPANISH ADOLESCENTS However, it has been suggested that peer attachments may not be as strong as attachments to others (Rosenthal & Kobak, 2010). The extant literature is mostly consistent in noting that parents, not peers, are typically retained as primary attachment figures through late adolescence and even early adulthood, especially among secure adolescents, or those who are not in longterm romantic relationships (Julal, Carnelley & Rowe, 2017;Pinquart, FeuBner & Ahnert, 2013;Umemura, Lacinová & Macek, 2014). Friends assume functions such as safety or proximity seeking, although this does not imply that all characteristics of attachment are transferred from the family context to the peer context; nor do friends become true attachment figures.…”

Are you my attachment figure? A (currently) unanswerable question

“…According to his theory, there should be more attachment behavior directed toward attachment figures than nonattachment figures, as only attachment figures are the set-goals of the attachment behavioral system. The criterion of selectivity has been emphasized by other scholars (Rosenthal & Kobak, 2010;Umemura, Lacinová, & Macek, 2015;Weiss, 1991;Zeifman & Hazan, 2008). Bowlby's (1982) third criterion involves the increase in the person's attachment behavior toward the attachment figure when the attachment system is more highly activated.…”

“…According to his theory, there should be more attachment behavior directed toward attachment figures than nonattachment figures, as only attachment figures are the set‐goals of the attachment behavioral system. The criterion of selectivity has been emphasized by other scholars (Rosenthal & Kobak, ; Umemura, Lacinová, & Macek, ; Weiss, ; Zeifman & Hazan, ).…”

Parent-Daughter Relationships and Disordered Eating Among Emerging Adult Women From the Czech Republic

“…The data and ethical approval for this study were drawn from the "Paths to adulthood" project, an ongoing longitudinal study that focuses on the psychosocial development of emerging adults in the Czech Republic (Macek et al, 2016;Umemura, Lacinová, & Macek, 2015). The major aims of this project are to explore the process of transition from adolescence to adulthood and to describe the individual psychological characteristics specific to this period.…”