Hi in-cognito and welcome to the forum.

I don't have a response to your questions but I did want to point out that there is another long-time member who uses the same screen name you have chosen. I think this will end up being very confusing for all involved. I'd like to suggest that you may want to chose another screen name. Of course, it's your choice but I think it will be less confusing for members.

Thank you
TN

Odd that this would not have been picked up and addressed at sign up...
easy fixed

The original incognito did not have a dash and hence, to a computer registers as a different name while still being confusing to the human eye. You said you've been lurking? I am surprised you were not aware of incognito as she is a regular poster.

to the forums. Questions on most attachment quizzes found on-line are very subjective but are also only meant to provide some insight into your relationship styles. When research is done, or at least the original attachment research done by Mary Ainsworth was much more complex. Long interview, I believe a few hours long if I recall correctly, consisted of in depth questioning about a person's childhood experiences. The answer's were analyzed by a psychologist/psychiatrist taking a lot of factors into account. There was a separate protocol set up for small children based on observation of their behavior on being separated from and rejoined with their caregiver along with physiological metrics such as blood pressure (while avoidant children display no overt emotions on being separated or reunited, their physiology indicates the same heightening as a more overtly behaved anxious child.)

And yes I do think that being in a relationship having difficulties would have an affect on your answers, but I think this is actually a good thing as attachment styles are not fixed. We can go from insecure to secure or from secure to insecure depending on our experiences so it is reflective of our subjective experience. FWIW I've found my results on hose quizzes to be fairly accurate for where I have considered myself at the time and a I have seen my position on the chart change as I have healed. Hope that helps.

AG

AG, thanks for the feedback. I see a lot in Attachment theory that makes sense from a behavioural perspective and yet have previously been more comfortable in counseling with CBT based approaches (I guess I'm a left brain type).
Good to know I'm not the only one who has found that there is a certain "fluidity" to the style and where one is positioned at a given time/place in their life/relationship as well as the type of individual they are with.
I am currently undertaking couples counseling with my spouse and our therapist has indicated a desire to explore this further, so it will be interesting to see how he approaches his own means of assessment...

Hi. Welcome.

I'm w/ AG as far as, yes, there are answer variations depending on the relationship and other "subjective". So, I agree with you that yes test results are ABSOLUTELY impacted by current stability, who it is, etc. The test itself can only given suggestions... that's usually why you work with someone... to figure out the context in your life, since your answers are subjective and were limited to a few short selections... the big picture isn't there at the end of the test. It takes time.

I only took the test once and don't remember what I had... I've found it much more helpful to work with my T. Part of the bias (subjectivity) I bring to my test is always wanting to think the "right" thing or the "positive" (in my opinion) thing I'd do if there were two option. So... that doesn't help my results or show the back and forth in my mind that makes me disorganized at times.

There is a lot of research out there concerning attachment.

Ainsworth originally researched infant attachment, generally to the mother, and she devised a 'standardized' technique to categorized infants into attachment types. The idea was that this early attachment style was then the bases of our inner working model of relationship with others.

Later the Adult Attachment Interview was devised to assess attachment styles in adults - and again categorize them into types.

However, it is known that attachment style is not fixed, that people do form 'earned secure' attachments in adult life, even given disrupted childhoods (see Main and Goldwyn). Attachment to the mother is not actually the most important factor in producing adults that form secure relationships - trauma is a key factor. Children exposed to trauma fare badly in later relationship security (See the work of Zimmerman).

All in all, attachment is a product of a particular relationship. My attachment style would tend to be avoidant or disorganized, but because of my husbands style, we have a good relationship and I have an earned secure type attachment. Questionaires can only act as a pointer to what may be happening for you in the context of the relationship you are exploring. And the attachment would certainly be expected to change in response to therapy (and hopefully the relationship improve).

Hope that helps a bit and isn't too much like an essay!!

SB

(I'm studying psychology and child development currently, just incase you wondered)

SB
Thanks so much! I was working from memory based on reading I did a few years back and obviously the details were fuzzy! Really appreciated your much firmer grasp of what was going on.

No longer,
I'm sorry to hear your a left-brained person. So was I, or at least thought I was, and it can make therapy quite uncomfortable as we really need to experience and express our feelings. My feelings were very shut down and closed off as I used my intellect as a defense mechanism. Having to learn to also spend time in my right brain was really hard work. Don't want to assume that this is also true for you, it just popped out for me because of my own experience so fwiw I just wanted to mention it.

And also fwiw, using attachment theory in my couples work was extemely effective. We were not in a very good place and at one point I honestly thought the marriage was not going to survive, but can now say that our relationship is the best that's its ever been. I hope you have the same experience.

AG

Hi No longer,

I just wanted to say hi and welcome to the forums. I have done quizzes that have invited you to answer the questions with respect to your primary attachment relationship in childhood and then again with your primary relationship in the present which was helpful to me to see how different my relationship with my husband was to any other relationship I had prior to meeting him. Attachment is definitely fluid, changing, and dependent on the experiences you are having within an important relationship which I think you can see whenever someone on the board has a traumatic break with a T.

Cogs

Thanks to all for their responses and thoughts.
From a number of "on-line" quizzes I have completed recently, the attachment "style" with regard to my parents was an accurate representation of the dynamic that existed prior to cutting them away from my life (dismissive avoidant). The circumstances and events leading to this attachment behaviour are clear.
On the other hand, my "traditional" style would be deemed secure and yet circumstances in my current relationship, by definition would be representative of a combination of dismissive-avoidant and fearful-avoidant.

Perhaps I was expecting it to be more representative of a "pidgeon-hole" personality/behaviour type similar to the MBTI, less than a fluid and dynamic behavioural response theory, based on an emotional trigger input.
That's not to say the recognition of response types doesn't have value, as I guess this is why "Mindfulness" techniques tend to tie in so closely with therapy based around attachment theory.

I sometimes worry that I'll lose sight of the real reason I'm going to counseling for the interest I have in seeing where the process and methodologies adopted by out Therapist will lead!

Maybe I should talk to someone about that!