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Let's talk about us: Attachment, relationship‐focused disclosure, and relationship quality
Author(s) -
TAN ROSABEL,
OVERALL NICKOLA C.,
TAYLOR JASMINE K.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
personal relationships
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.81
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1475-6811
pISSN - 1350-4126
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2011.01383.x
Subject(s) - closeness , psychology , anxiety , positive relationship , quality (philosophy) , attachment theory , self disclosure , social psychology , developmental psychology , psychiatry , mathematical analysis , philosophy , mathematics , epistemology
This research tested whether attachment avoidance and anxiety were associated with couples' ( N = 59) disclosure during recorded discussions of recent events. The links between attachment and disclosure with relationship quality across 1 year were also assessed. Attachment was not associated with amount or intimacy of disclosure, but greater attachment anxiety was associated with more relationship‐focused disclosure, whereas attachment avoidance was associated with less relationship‐focused disclosure. Relationship‐focused disclosure was also positively associated with relationship quality across time, whereas attachment avoidance predicted lower relationship quality. These findings indicate that spontaneous relationship‐focused disclosure during routine conversations helps maintain relationships, but because people high in avoidance are less focused on sustaining closeness, their relationships tend to deteriorate over time.