Desire under attack: Attachment orientations and the effects of relationship threat on sexual motivations

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

Volumn 28, Issue 4, 2011, Pages 448-468

  Birnbaum, Gurit E ^a   Weisberg, Yanna J ^b   Simpson, Jeffry A ^b  

^a INTERDISCIPLINARY CENTER   (Israel)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA   (United States)

Author keywords

attachment; motivation; romantic relationships; sexual desire; threat

Indexed keywords

EID: 79957797175     PISSN: 02654075     EISSN: 14603608     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0265407510381932     Document Type: Article

References (53)

1. Aiken, L.S., & West, S.G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
2. Andersen, S.M., & Chen, S. (2002). The relational self: An interpersonal social-cognitive theory. Psychological Review, 109, 619-645.
3. Baldwin, M.W., Keelan, J.P.R., Fehr, B., Enns, V., & Koh-Rangarajoo, E. (1996). Social-cognitive conceptualization of attachment working models: Availability and accessibility effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 94-109.
4. Bell, R.A., Daly, J.A., & Gonzalez, C. (1987). Affinity-maintenance in marriage and its relationship to women's marital satisfaction. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 49, 445-454.
5. Berman, M.I., & Frazier, P.A. (2005). Relationship power and betrayal experience as predictors of reactions to infidelity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1617-1627.
6. Birnbaum, G.E. (2007a). Attachment orientations, sexual functioning, and relationship satisfaction in a community sample of women. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 24, 21-35.
7. Birnbaum, G.E. (2007b). Beyond the borders of reality: Attachment orientations and sexual fantasies. Personal Relationships, 14, 321-342.
8. Birnbaum, G.E. (2010). Bound to interact: The divergent goals and complex interplay of attachment and sex within romantic relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 27, 245-252.
9. Birnbaum, G.E., & Gillath, O. (2006). Measuring subgoals of the sexual behavioral system: What is sex good for? Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 23, 675-701.
10. Birnbaum, G.E., Hirschberger, G., & Goldenberg, J.L. (in press). Desire in the face of death: Terror management, attachment, and sexual motivation. Personal Relationships.
11. Birnbaum, G.E., & Reis, H.T. (2006). Women's sexual working models: An evolutionary-attachment perspective. The Journal of Sex Research, 43, 328-342.
12. Birnbaum, G.E., Reis, H.T., Mikulincer, M., Gillath, O., & Orpaz, A. (2006). When sex is more than just sex: Attachment orientations, sexual experience, and relationship quality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 929-943.
13. Birnbaum, G.E., Svitelman, N., Bar-Shalom, A., & Porat, O. (2008). The thin line between reality and imagination: Attachment orientations and the effects of relationship threats on sexual fantasies. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1185-1199.
14. Bogaert, A.F., & Sadava, S. (2002). Adult attachment and sexual behavior. Personal Relationships, 9, 191-204.
15. Bowlby, J. (1969/1982). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment (2nd ed.). New York: Basic Books.
16. Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss Vol. 2. Separation: Anxiety and anger. New York: Basic Books.
17. Brennan, K.A., Clark, C.L., & Shaver, P.R. (1998). Self-report measurement of adult attachment: An integrative overview. In J. A. Simpson & W. S. Rholes (Eds.), Attachment theory and close relationships (pp. 46-76). New York: Guilford Press.
18. Cassidy, J., & Kobak, R.R. (1988). Avoidance and its relationship with other defensive processes. In J. Belsky & T. Nezworski (Eds.), Clinical implications of attachment (pp. 300-323). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
19. Cooper, M.L., Pioli, M., Levitt, A., Talley, A., Micheas, L., & Collins, N.L. (2006). Attachment styles, sex motives, and sexual behavior: Evidence for gender specific expressions of attachment dynamics. In M. Mikulincer & G.S. Goodman (Eds.), Dynamics of love: Attachment, caregiving, and sex (pp. 243-274). New York: Guilford Press.
20. Cooper, M.L., Shapiro, C.M., & Powers, A.M. (1998). Motivations for sex and risky sexual behavior among adolescents and young adults: A functional perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1528-1558.
21. Creasey, G., & Ladd, A. (2005). Generalized and specific attachment representations: Unique and interactive roles in predicting conflict behaviors in close relationships. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1026-1038.
22. Crittenden, P.M. (1997). Patterns of attachment and sexual behavior: Risk of dysfunction versus opportunity for creative integration. In L. Atkinson & K. J. Zucker (Eds.), Attachment and psychopathology (pp. 47-93). New York: Guilford Press.
23. Crowell, J., Treboux, D., & Waters, E. (1999). The adult attachment interview and relationship questionnaire: Relations to reports of mothers and partners. Personal Relationships, 6, 1-18.
24. Davis, D., Shaver, P.R., & Vernon, M.L. (2003). Physical, emotional, and behavioral reactions to breaking up. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 871-884.
25. Davis, D., Shaver, P.R., & Vernon, M.L. (2004). Attachment style and subjective motivations for sex. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 1076-1090.
26. Davis, D., Shaver, P.R., Widaman, K.F., Vernon, M.L., Follette, W.C., & Beitz, K. (2006). "I can't get no satisfaction": Insecure attachment, inhibited sexual communication, and sexual dissatisfaction. Personal Relationships, 13, 465-483.
27. Fraley, R.C., Davis, K.E., & Shaver, P.R. (1998). Dismissing-avoidance and the defensive organization of emotion, cognition, and behavior. In J. A. Simpson & W. S. Rholes (Eds.), Attachment theory and close relationships (pp. 249-279). New York: Guilford Press.
28. Fraley, R.C., Garner, J.P., & Shaver, P.R. (2000). Adult attachment and the defensive regulation of attention and memory: The role of preemptive and postemptive processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 816-826.
29. Fraley, R.C., & Shaver, P.R. (1998). Airport separations: A naturalistic study of adult attachment dynamics in separating couples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1198-1212.
30. Gangestad, S.W., & Thornhill, R. (1997). The evolutionary psychology of extra-pair sex: The role of fluctuating asymmetry. Evolution and Human Behavior, 18, 69-88.
31. Guerrero, L.K. (1998). Attachment-style differences in the experience and expression of romantic jealousy. Personal Relationships, 5, 273-291.
32. Hazan, C., & Zeifman, D. (1994). Sex and the psychological tether. In K. Bartholomew & D. Perlman (Eds.), Advances in Personal Relationships: Vol. 5. Attachment processes in adulthood (pp. 151-177). London: Jessica Kingsley.
33. Hill, C.A., & Preston, L.K. (1996). Individual differences in the experience of sexual motivation: Theory and measurement of dispositional sexual motives. The Journal of Sex Research, 33, 27-45.
34. Impett, E.A., Gordon, A.M., & Strachman, A. (2008). Attachment and daily sexual goals: A study of dating couples. Personal Relationships, 15, 375-390.
35. Impett, E.A., Strachman, A., Finkel, E.J., & Gable, S.L. (2008). Maintaining sexual desire in intimate relationships: The importance of approach goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 808-823.
36. Kirkpatrick, L.A., & Hazan, C. (1994). Attachment styles and close relationships: A four year prospective study. Personal Relationships, 1, 123-142.
37. Laumann, E.O., Paik, A., & Rosen, R.D. (1999). Sexual dysfunction in the United States: prevalence and predictors. Journal of the American Medical Association, 281, 537-544.
38. Main, M. (1990). Cross-cultural studies of attachment organization: Recent studies, changing methodologies, and the concept of conditional strategies. Human Development, 33, 48-61.
39. Mikulincer, M., Birnbaum, G., Woddis, D., & Nachmias, O. (2000). Stress and accessibility of proximity-related thoughts: Exploring the species-typical and intraindividual components of attachment theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 509-523.
40. Mikulincer, M., & Florian, V. (2000). Exploring individual differences in reactions to mortality salience - Does attachment style regulate terror management mechanisms? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 260-273.
41. Mikulincer, M., Gillath, O., & Shaver, P.R. (2002). Activation of the attachment system in adulthood: Threat-related primes increase the accessibility of mental representations of attachment figures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 881-895.
42. Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P.R. (2003). The attachment behavioral system in adulthood: Activation, psychodynamics, and interpersonal processes. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 35, pp. 53-152). New York: Academic Press.
43. Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P.R. (2007). Attachment in adulthood + Structure, dynamics, and change. New York: Guilford Press.
44. O'Sullivan, L.F., & Byers, E.S. (1992). College students' incorporation of initiator and restrictor roles in sexual dating interactions. The Journal of Sex Research, 29, 435-446.
45. Pierce, T. & Lydon, J. (2001). Global and specific relational models in the experience of social interactions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 4, 613-631.
46. Rusbult, C.E., Zembrodt, I.M., & Gunn, L.K. (1982). Exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect: Responses to dissatisfaction in romantic involvements. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 1230-1242.
47. Schachner, D.A., & Shaver, P.R. (2004). Attachment dimensions and motives for sex. Personal Relationships, 11, 179-195.
48. Shaver, P.R., Hazan, C., & Bradshaw, D. (1988). Love as attachment: The integration of three behavioral systems. In R. J. Sternberg & M. Barnes (Eds.), The psychology of love (pp. 68-99). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
49. Simpson, J.A. (1990). Influence of attachment styles on romantic relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 971-980.
50. Simpson, J.A., & Rholes, W.S. (1994). Stress and secure base relationships in adulthood. In K. Bartholomew & D. Perlman (Eds.), Advances in personal relationships (Vol. 5): Attachment processes in adulthood (pp. 181-204). London: Kingsley.
51. Simpson, J.A., & Rholes, W.S. (2002). Fearful-avoidance, disorganization, and multiple working models: Some directions for future theory and research. Attachment and Human Development, 4, 223-229.
52. Simpson, J.A., Rholes, W.S., & Nelligan, J.S. (1992). Support-seeking and support-giving within couples in an anxiety-provoking situation: The role of attachment styles. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 434-446.
53. Treboux, D., Crowell, J., & Waters, E. (2004). When "new" meets "old": Configurations of adult attachment representations and their implications for marital functioning. Developmental Psychology, 40, 295-314.