Elsevier

Current Opinion in Psychology

Volume 13, February 2017, Pages 60-64
Current Opinion in Psychology

Couple conflict: insights from an attachment perspective

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2016.04.017Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The experience of conflict in romantic relationships is highly stressful.

  • Conflict has significant implications for relationship satisfaction and longevity.

  • Severe and persistent conflict can activate the attachment behavioral system.

  • Responses to conflict are shaped, in part, by individual differences in attachment.

  • Both partners’ conflict responses mediate the attachment-relationship quality link.

The experience of conflict is often cited as a highly stressful relational phenomenon by romantic couples, and can have negative implications for relationship satisfaction and for the longevity of romantic relationships. In this paper, we review extant research on couple conflict in romantic relationships from an attachment theory perspective. The research we review is underpinned by two central tenets: firstly, severe or persistent conflict activates the attachment system; secondly, responses to couple conflict involve complex attachment dynamics, shaped by partners’ attachment anxiety and avoidance. The research reviewed has important implications for both research and practice in the area of couple conflict, and clearly demonstrates how conflict can act as a stressor that shapes relationship functioning.

Section snippets

Attachment and conflict: empirical research

A huge body of research has addressed attachment-related differences in conflict behavior. The earliest research relied on global self-reports of conflict, but many subsequent studies have examined specific interactions, or used multiple reporters and/or research methods. This review focuses on the latter studies.

In the 1990s, two laboratory studies of dating couples tested the proposition that severe or persistent conflict activates attachment concerns. Simpson et al. [11] randomly assigned

Conclusions

Research using diverse methods supports the negative effects of attachment insecurities on conflict behaviors and relationship outcomes. However, several issues require further study. First, although robust evidence links attachment anxiety to hyperactivating strategies, and avoidance to deactivating strategies, partner's attachment and other moderating variables can exacerbate or dampen these tendencies. Second, some research findings are method-specific, a finding which is important in its

References and recommended reading

Papers of particular interest, published within the period of review, have been highlighted as:

  • • of special interest

  • •• of outstanding interest

Conflict of interest statement

Nothing declared.

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