Insecure attachment may not hamper relationships: a dyadic fit perspective

Research on romantic relationships has, among other details, focused on matching effect of attachment between dyadic partners, as matching perspective could reveal the interdependence and interplay between partners. However, how attachment matching relates to relationship quality has yielded inconsistent findings. The present study investigated the links between dyadic attachment matching and relationship quality among 434 dating couples and 929 married couples. We found that, in contrast with discrepancy in anxiety, congruence in anxiety does not always relate to a higher quality of relationship. Notably, the association between congruence in anxiety and relationship quality seems to be represented by a U curve, indicating that dyads with two highly anxious partners could cultivate a satisfying relationship. Furthermore, dyads with a larger discrepancy in avoidance were associated with higher relationship quality than dyads with a smaller discrepancy. The discussion focused on the dyadic regulation effect, especially the buffering and thriving effect for dyads with insecure partners.