[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":913},["ShallowReactive",2],{"research-attachment-style-statistics":3},{"_path":4,"_dir":5,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":8,"description":9,"summary":10,"pageType":5,"datePublished":11,"dateModified":11,"lastReviewed":11,"nextReviewDue":12,"canonical":13,"keyFindings":14,"sources":22,"faq":59,"relatedPosts":75,"body":88,"_type":907,"_id":908,"_source":909,"_file":910,"_stem":911,"_extension":912},"\u002Fresearch\u002Fattachment-style-statistics","research",false,"","Attachment Style Statistics: Prevalence & Relationship Outcomes","How common is each attachment style? Verified statistics on secure, anxious, and avoidant attachment — prevalence, generational trends, couple pairings, and outcomes — every number linked to its primary source.","59% of U.S. adults are securely attached, 25% avoidant, and 11% anxious. Secure attachment among college students fell from 48.98% in 1988 to 41.62% in 2011. In a study of 354 dating couples, zero anxious-anxious or avoidant-avoidant pairings were found. Roughly 70% of people keep the same attachment style over time.","2026-06-12","2026-09-10","https:\u002F\u002Fhilainie.com\u002Fresearch\u002Fattachment-style-statistics\u002F",[15,16,17,18,19,20,21],"59% of U.S. adults are securely attached, 25% avoidant, and 11% anxious (Mickelson, Kessler & Shaver, 1997)","Secure attachment among American college students fell from 48.98% in 1988 to 41.62% in 2011 (Konrath et al., 2014)","Dismissing-avoidant attachment rose from 11.93% to 18.62% over the same 23 years (Konrath et al., 2014)","In 354 seriously dating couples, zero anxious-anxious or avoidant-avoidant pairings were found (Kirkpatrick & Davis, 1994)","Across 10,500+ Adult Attachment Interviews, 58% of non-clinical mothers were classified secure (Bakermans-Kranenburg & van IJzendoorn, 2009)","Parent-to-child transmission of secure attachment runs at r = .31 across 95 samples (Verhage et al., 2016)","Roughly 70% of people keep the same attachment style over time; about 30% shift (Simply Psychology)",[23,27,31,35,39,43,47,51,55],{"title":24,"url":25,"author":26},"Adult attachment in a nationally representative sample","https:\u002F\u002Fpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\u002F9364763\u002F","Mickelson, Kessler & Shaver — Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1997)",{"title":28,"url":29,"author":30},"Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process","https:\u002F\u002Fpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\u002F3572722\u002F","Hazan & Shaver — Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1987)",{"title":32,"url":33,"author":34},"The first 10,000 Adult Attachment Interviews: distributions of adult attachment representations in clinical and non-clinical groups","https:\u002F\u002Fpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\u002F19455453\u002F","Bakermans-Kranenburg & van IJzendoorn — Attachment & Human Development (2009)",{"title":36,"url":37,"author":38},"Attachment style, gender, and relationship stability: a longitudinal analysis","https:\u002F\u002Fpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\u002F8169762\u002F","Kirkpatrick & Davis — Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1994)",{"title":40,"url":41,"author":42},"Changes in adult attachment styles in American college students over time: a meta-analysis","https:\u002F\u002Fpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\u002F24727975\u002F","Konrath, Chopik, Hsing & O'Brien — Personality and Social Psychology Review (2014)",{"title":44,"url":45,"author":46},"Narrowing the transmission gap: a synthesis of three decades of research on intergenerational transmission of attachment","https:\u002F\u002Fpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\u002F26653864\u002F","Verhage et al. — Psychological Bulletin (2016)",{"title":48,"url":49,"author":50},"Relationship duration moderates associations between attachment and relationship quality: meta-analytic support for the temporal adult romantic attachment model","https:\u002F\u002Fpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\u002F24026179\u002F","Hadden, Smith & Webster — Personality and Social Psychology Review (2014)",{"title":52,"url":53,"author":54},"Attachment Styles & Their Role in Relationships","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.simplypsychology.org\u002Fattachment-styles.html","Simply Psychology",{"title":56,"url":57,"author":58},"Attachment","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.psychologytoday.com\u002Fus\u002Fbasics\u002Fattachment","Psychology Today",[60,63,66,69,72],{"q":61,"a":62},"What is the most common attachment style?","Secure attachment, by every major measurement. The only nationally representative U.S. survey ever classified found 59% of adults secure, and a database of more than 10,500 Adult Attachment Interviews found 58% of non-clinical mothers classified secure\u002Fautonomous. Whether researchers use self-report questionnaires or hour-long clinical interviews, secure lands just under 60%.",{"q":64,"a":65},"What percentage of people have anxious attachment?","It depends on the instrument. The nationally representative U.S. sample put anxious attachment at 11% — the rarest of the three classic styles. The Adult Attachment Interview database classified 19% of non-clinical mothers as preoccupied (the interview's anxious category). Self-report surveys tend to produce lower anxious numbers than clinical interviews.",{"q":67,"a":68},"Are attachment styles becoming more insecure over time?","Among young adults, yes. A cross-temporal meta-analysis found secure attachment in American college students fell from 48.98% in 1988 to 41.62% in 2011, while dismissing-avoidant attachment rose from 11.93% to 18.62%. By 2011, insecure styles (58.38%) outnumbered secure ones.",{"q":70,"a":71},"Can your attachment style change?","Yes — about 30% of people shift styles over time, while roughly 70% stay stable. Change runs in both directions: stress and bad relationships can push secure people toward insecurity, and therapy or a steady partner can move insecure people toward earned security. Style is a strong default, not a sentence.",{"q":73,"a":74},"Why do anxious and avoidant people end up together so often?","Partly because same-style insecure pairings barely form. In a study of 354 seriously dating couples, researchers found zero anxious-anxious and zero avoidant-avoidant pairs. Insecure people overwhelmingly partner with either secure or opposite-insecure partners — and the anxious-avoidant combination, despite poor satisfaction ratings, proved surprisingly durable over three years.",[76,79,82,85],{"title":77,"href":78},"Attachment Styles Explained","\u002Fblog\u002Fwellness\u002Fattachment-styles-explained\u002F",{"title":80,"href":81},"The Anxious-Avoidant Trap","\u002Fblog\u002Fwellness\u002Fanxious-avoidant-trap\u002F",{"title":83,"href":84},"Earned Secure Attachment","\u002Fblog\u002Fwellness\u002Fearned-secure-attachment\u002F",{"title":86,"href":87},"Quiz: What's Your Attachment Style?","\u002Fquiz\u002Fattachment-style\u002F",{"type":89,"children":90,"toc":894},"root",[91,99,106,414,420,438,452,472,478,496,501,533,539,557,570,597,603,634,647,681,687,707,741,747,765,784,790,815,840,846,858,863,868,874,889],{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":94,"children":95},"element","p",{},[96],{"type":97,"value":98},"text","Attachment style is one of the few relationship concepts with four decades of hard numbers behind it. Here is what the research actually shows — every figure below is linked to the study that produced it.",{"type":92,"tag":100,"props":101,"children":103},"h2",{"id":102},"key-statistics",[104],{"type":97,"value":105},"Key Statistics",{"type":92,"tag":107,"props":108,"children":109},"ol",{},[110,134,161,187,206,225,243,268,287,304,322,341,359,378,396],{"type":92,"tag":111,"props":112,"children":113},"li",{},[114,116,122,124,132],{"type":97,"value":115},"In the only nationally representative U.S. sample ever classified by attachment style, ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":118,"children":119},"strong",{},[120],{"type":97,"value":121},"59%",{"type":97,"value":123}," of adults were secure (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":126,"children":129},"a",{"href":25,"rel":127},[128],"nofollow",[130],{"type":97,"value":131},"Mickelson, Kessler & Shaver, 1997",{"type":97,"value":133},").",{"type":92,"tag":111,"props":135,"children":136},{},[137,139,144,146,152,154,160],{"type":97,"value":138},"The same national survey classified ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":140,"children":141},{},[142],{"type":97,"value":143},"25%",{"type":97,"value":145}," of U.S. adults as ",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":147,"children":149},{"href":148},"\u002Fblog\u002Fglossary\u002Favoidant-attachment\u002F",[150],{"type":97,"value":151},"avoidant",{"type":97,"value":153}," (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":155,"children":157},{"href":25,"rel":156},[128],[158],{"type":97,"value":159},"Mickelson et al., 1997",{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":111,"props":162,"children":163},{},[164,166,171,173,179,181,186],{"type":97,"value":165},"Only ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":167,"children":168},{},[169],{"type":97,"value":170},"11%",{"type":97,"value":172}," of U.S. adults were classified as ",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":174,"children":176},{"href":175},"\u002Fblog\u002Fglossary\u002Fanxious-attachment\u002F",[177],{"type":97,"value":178},"anxious",{"type":97,"value":180}," — the rarest of the three classic styles (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":182,"children":184},{"href":25,"rel":183},[128],[185],{"type":97,"value":159},{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":111,"props":188,"children":189},{},[190,192,197,199,205],{"type":97,"value":191},"The field's founding study reported in ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":193,"children":194},{},[195],{"type":97,"value":196},"1987",{"type":97,"value":198}," that the three attachment styles occur in roughly the same proportions in adulthood as in infancy (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":200,"children":202},{"href":29,"rel":201},[128],[203],{"type":97,"value":204},"Hazan & Shaver, 1987",{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":111,"props":207,"children":208},{},[209,211,216,218,224],{"type":97,"value":210},"Across more than ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":212,"children":213},{},[214],{"type":97,"value":215},"10,500",{"type":97,"value":217}," Adult Attachment Interviews from 200+ studies, 58% of non-clinical North American mothers were classified secure\u002Fautonomous (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":219,"children":221},{"href":33,"rel":220},[128],[222],{"type":97,"value":223},"Bakermans-Kranenburg & van IJzendoorn, 2009",{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":111,"props":226,"children":227},{},[228,230,235,237,242],{"type":97,"value":229},"The same interview database classified ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":231,"children":232},{},[233],{"type":97,"value":234},"23%",{"type":97,"value":236}," of non-clinical mothers as dismissing and 19% as preoccupied (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":238,"children":240},{"href":33,"rel":239},[128],[241],{"type":97,"value":223},{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":111,"props":244,"children":245},{},[246,248,253,255,261,262,267],{"type":97,"value":247},"An additional ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":249,"children":250},{},[251],{"type":97,"value":252},"18%",{"type":97,"value":254}," were coded unresolved for loss or trauma — a marker linked to ",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":256,"children":258},{"href":257},"\u002Fblog\u002Fglossary\u002Fdisorganized-attachment\u002F",[259],{"type":97,"value":260},"disorganized attachment",{"type":97,"value":153},{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":263,"children":265},{"href":33,"rel":264},[128],[266],{"type":97,"value":223},{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":111,"props":269,"children":270},{},[271,273,278,280,286],{"type":97,"value":272},"Secure attachment among American college students fell from 48.98% in 1988 to ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":274,"children":275},{},[276],{"type":97,"value":277},"41.62%",{"type":97,"value":279}," in 2011 (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":281,"children":283},{"href":41,"rel":282},[128],[284],{"type":97,"value":285},"Konrath et al., 2014",{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":111,"props":288,"children":289},{},[290,292,297,298,303],{"type":97,"value":291},"Dismissing-avoidant attachment rose by more than half over the same period, from 11.93% to ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":293,"children":294},{},[295],{"type":97,"value":296},"18.62%",{"type":97,"value":153},{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":299,"children":301},{"href":41,"rel":300},[128],[302],{"type":97,"value":285},{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":111,"props":305,"children":306},{},[307,309,314,316,321],{"type":97,"value":308},"By 2011, insecure styles outnumbered secure ones among college students: ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":310,"children":311},{},[312],{"type":97,"value":313},"58.38%",{"type":97,"value":315}," insecure, up from 51.02% in 1988 (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":317,"children":319},{"href":41,"rel":318},[128],[320],{"type":97,"value":285},{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":111,"props":323,"children":324},{},[325,327,332,334,340],{"type":97,"value":326},"In a study of ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":328,"children":329},{},[330],{"type":97,"value":331},"354",{"type":97,"value":333}," seriously dating couples, not a single anxious-anxious or avoidant-avoidant pairing was found (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":335,"children":337},{"href":37,"rel":336},[128],[338],{"type":97,"value":339},"Kirkpatrick & Davis, 1994",{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":111,"props":342,"children":343},{},[344,346,351,353,358],{"type":97,"value":345},"Couples made of an avoidant man and an anxious woman were surprisingly stable across the study's full ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":347,"children":348},{},[349],{"type":97,"value":350},"3",{"type":97,"value":352}," years — despite both partners rating the relationship poorly at the start (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":354,"children":356},{"href":37,"rel":355},[128],[357],{"type":97,"value":339},{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":111,"props":360,"children":361},{},[362,364,369,371,377],{"type":97,"value":363},"A parent's attachment classification predicts their child's at r = ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":365,"children":366},{},[367],{"type":97,"value":368},".31",{"type":97,"value":370}," across 95 samples totaling 4,819 parent-child pairs (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":372,"children":374},{"href":45,"rel":373},[128],[375],{"type":97,"value":376},"Verhage et al., 2016",{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":111,"props":379,"children":380},{},[381,383,388,390,395],{"type":97,"value":382},"Studies generally show about ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":384,"children":385},{},[386],{"type":97,"value":387},"70%",{"type":97,"value":389}," of people keep the same attachment style over time, while roughly 30% shift (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":391,"children":393},{"href":53,"rel":392},[128],[394],{"type":97,"value":54},{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":111,"props":397,"children":398},{},[399,401,406,408,413],{"type":97,"value":400},"During COVID-19 lockdowns, anxiously and fearful-avoidantly attached adults were ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":402,"children":403},{},[404],{"type":97,"value":405},"17–18%",{"type":97,"value":407}," lonelier than securely attached adults, with 5–6% higher depression and anxiety (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":409,"children":411},{"href":53,"rel":410},[128],[412],{"type":97,"value":54},{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":100,"props":415,"children":417},{"id":416},"what-percentage-of-people-have-each-attachment-style",[418],{"type":97,"value":419},"What Percentage of People Have Each Attachment Style?",{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":421,"children":422},{},[423,425,430,431,436],{"type":97,"value":424},"The cleanest prevalence numbers come from the one study that classified a nationally representative U.S. sample rather than a convenience sample of undergraduates: ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":426,"children":427},{},[428],{"type":97,"value":429},"59% secure, 25% avoidant, 11% anxious",{"type":97,"value":153},{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":432,"children":434},{"href":25,"rel":433},[128],[435],{"type":97,"value":131},{"type":97,"value":437},"). The figures don't sum to 100 because a small share of respondents couldn't be cleanly classified — a detail most listicles quietly round away. The authors noted the distribution was similar to prior studies, which is the quiet headline: attachment proportions replicate.",{"type":92,"tag":439,"props":440,"children":441},"blockquote",{},[442],{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":443,"children":444},{},[445,450],{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":446,"children":447},{},[448],{"type":97,"value":449},"59% of U.S. adults are securely attached.",{"type":97,"value":451}," Which means roughly four in ten people in the dating pool are running an insecure blueprint — and most of them don't know which one.",{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":453,"children":454},{},[455,457,462,464,470],{"type":97,"value":456},"The proportions weren't a surprise even in 1997. A decade earlier, the study that launched adult attachment research found the three styles occur in roughly the same relative prevalence in adulthood as in infancy, and that the three kinds of adults differ predictably in how they experience romantic love (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":458,"children":460},{"href":29,"rel":459},[128],[461],{"type":97,"value":204},{"type":97,"value":463},"). ",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":465,"children":467},{"href":466},"\u002Fblog\u002Fglossary\u002Fattachment-theory\u002F",[468],{"type":97,"value":469},"Attachment theory",{"type":97,"value":471}," made a specific, testable bet — that the infant distribution Bowlby and Ainsworth documented would show up again in adults' romantic lives — and won it. Hazan and Shaver also tied each style to Bowlby's \"inner working models\": the largely unconscious beliefs about whether you're lovable and whether other people can be counted on. Those models, not the labels, are what actually run your relationships.",{"type":92,"tag":100,"props":473,"children":475},{"id":474},"what-do-10000-clinical-interviews-show",[476],{"type":97,"value":477},"What Do 10,000 Clinical Interviews Show?",{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":479,"children":480},{},[481,483,488,490,495],{"type":97,"value":482},"Self-report surveys are cheap; the Adult Attachment Interview is the expensive, hour-long, coded-by-trained-raters version. When researchers pooled more than ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":484,"children":485},{},[486],{"type":97,"value":487},"10,500 AAIs",{"type":97,"value":489}," from over 200 studies spanning 25 years, non-clinical North American mothers broke down as 58% secure\u002Fautonomous, 23% dismissing, and 19% preoccupied (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":491,"children":493},{"href":33,"rel":492},[128],[494],{"type":97,"value":223},{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":497,"children":498},{},[499],{"type":97,"value":500},"Notice what just happened: a completely different instrument, on different people, landed within one point of the national survey's 59% secure. That convergence is why the ~60\u002F40 secure-insecure split is among the most trusted numbers in relationship science.",{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":502,"children":503},{},[504,506,510,512,516,518,524,526,531],{"type":97,"value":505},"The same database adds two findings the survey methods can't. First, an additional ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":507,"children":508},{},[509],{"type":97,"value":252},{"type":97,"value":511}," of non-clinical mothers were coded unresolved for loss or trauma — unresolved status is the adult correlate of ",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":513,"children":514},{"href":257},[515],{"type":97,"value":260},{"type":97,"value":517}," and overlaps with ",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":519,"children":521},{"href":520},"\u002Fblog\u002Fglossary\u002Ffearful-avoidant-attachment\u002F",[522],{"type":97,"value":523},"fearful-avoidant attachment",{"type":97,"value":525}," in the self-report world. Second, clinical samples showed systematically more insecure and unresolved classifications than the norm groups (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":527,"children":529},{"href":33,"rel":528},[128],[530],{"type":97,"value":223},{"type":97,"value":532},") — attachment insecurity and mental-health caseloads travel together.",{"type":92,"tag":100,"props":534,"children":536},{"id":535},"is-secure-attachment-becoming-less-common",[537],{"type":97,"value":538},"Is Secure Attachment Becoming Less Common?",{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":540,"children":541},{},[542,544,549,551,556],{"type":97,"value":543},"Among young adults, yes, and the trend line is unusually clean. A cross-temporal meta-analysis of American college students who completed the same four-category measure across 23 years found secure attachment fell from ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":545,"children":546},{},[547],{"type":97,"value":548},"48.98% in 1988 to 41.62% in 2011",{"type":97,"value":550},", while the dismissing style — high self-reliance, low comfort with closeness — climbed from 11.93% to 18.62% (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":552,"children":554},{"href":41,"rel":553},[128],[555],{"type":97,"value":285},{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":439,"props":558,"children":559},{},[560],{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":561,"children":562},{},[563,568],{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":564,"children":565},{},[566],{"type":97,"value":567},"By 2011, insecurity was the majority position:",{"type":97,"value":569}," 58.38% of American college students reported an insecure attachment style, up from 51.02% in 1988.",{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":571,"children":572},{},[573,575,581,583,588,590,595],{"type":97,"value":574},"The researchers also found that positive views of ",{"type":92,"tag":576,"props":577,"children":578},"em",{},[579],{"type":97,"value":580},"others",{"type":97,"value":582}," declined across the same period (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":584,"children":586},{"href":41,"rel":585},[128],[587],{"type":97,"value":285},{"type":97,"value":589},") — students increasingly expected closeness to cost them something. Note the population: college students skew younger and less secure than the general adult population (compare their 41.62% to the national sample's 59%), so this is a leading indicator, not a national average. But the direction matters. If you've felt like ",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":591,"children":592},{"href":148},[593],{"type":97,"value":594},"avoidant attachment",{"type":97,"value":596}," is everywhere on the apps, the data is on your side.",{"type":92,"tag":100,"props":598,"children":600},{"id":599},"why-do-anxious-and-avoidant-people-keep-ending-up-together",[601],{"type":97,"value":602},"Why Do Anxious and Avoidant People Keep Ending Up Together?",{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":604,"children":605},{},[606,608,613,615,620,622,626,628,633],{"type":97,"value":607},"The most quoted pairing study in attachment research followed ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":609,"children":610},{},[611],{"type":97,"value":612},"354 heterosexual couples",{"type":97,"value":614}," in serious dating relationships and found attachment styles were nonrandomly paired — specifically, there were ",{"type":92,"tag":576,"props":616,"children":617},{},[618],{"type":97,"value":619},"no",{"type":97,"value":621}," anxious-anxious pairs and ",{"type":92,"tag":576,"props":623,"children":624},{},[625],{"type":97,"value":619},{"type":97,"value":627}," avoidant-avoidant pairs in the entire sample (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":629,"children":631},{"href":37,"rel":630},[128],[632],{"type":97,"value":339},{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":439,"props":635,"children":636},{},[637],{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":638,"children":639},{},[640,645],{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":641,"children":642},{},[643],{"type":97,"value":644},"Out of 354 couples, the number of anxious-anxious or avoidant-avoidant pairings was zero.",{"type":97,"value":646}," Insecure people don't pair with their own kind — they pair with secure partners, or with their opposite.",{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":648,"children":649},{},[650,652,657,659,664,666,672,674,679],{"type":97,"value":651},"The second finding is the uncomfortable one: relationships between avoidant men and anxious women were ",{"type":92,"tag":576,"props":653,"children":654},{},[655],{"type":97,"value":656},"surprisingly stable over three years",{"type":97,"value":658},", despite both partners rating those relationships relatively poorly at the start (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":660,"children":662},{"href":37,"rel":661},[128],[663],{"type":97,"value":339},{"type":97,"value":665},"). Low satisfaction, high durability. Each partner's behavior confirms the other's working model — the anxious partner's pursuit proves the avoidant partner's belief that people demand too much; the avoidant partner's distance proves the anxious partner's belief that love must be chased. That loop is the engine behind the ",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":667,"children":669},{"href":668},"\u002Fblog\u002Fglossary\u002Fpursuer-distancer\u002F",[670],{"type":97,"value":671},"pursuer-distancer",{"type":97,"value":673}," dynamic, and it's why these couples stay stuck rather than splitting. We've broken down the escape route in ",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":675,"children":676},{"href":81},[677],{"type":97,"value":678},"the anxious-avoidant trap",{"type":97,"value":680},".",{"type":92,"tag":100,"props":682,"children":684},{"id":683},"how-does-attachment-style-affect-relationship-quality-over-time",[685],{"type":97,"value":686},"How Does Attachment Style Affect Relationship Quality Over Time?",{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":688,"children":689},{},[690,692,697,699,705],{"type":97,"value":691},"Insecure attachment doesn't just predict lower relationship satisfaction — the association gets ",{"type":92,"tag":576,"props":693,"children":694},{},[695],{"type":97,"value":696},"worse",{"type":97,"value":698}," the longer the relationship lasts. Meta-analyses testing the Temporal Adult Romantic Attachment model confirmed that the negative associations between both anxious and avoidant attachment and relationship satisfaction and commitment were more negative in longer relationships (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":700,"children":702},{"href":49,"rel":701},[128],[703],{"type":97,"value":704},"Hadden, Smith & Webster, 2014",{"type":97,"value":706},"). Insecurity is not a problem that time dilutes; honeymoon chemistry masks it early, and accumulated conflict compounds it later. That's worth sitting with if you're in year one of something rocky and telling yourself it'll smooth out on its own — the cross-sectional data points the other way, and the practical move is addressing the pattern early, not waiting it out.",{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":708,"children":709},{},[710,712,717,719,724,726,731,733,739],{"type":97,"value":711},"The costs show up outside the relationship too. When researchers tracked attachment and mental health during COVID-19 lockdowns, anxiously and fearful-avoidantly attached people reported around ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":713,"children":714},{},[715],{"type":97,"value":716},"5–6% higher depression and anxiety",{"type":97,"value":718}," and were ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":720,"children":721},{},[722],{"type":97,"value":723},"17–18% lonelier",{"type":97,"value":725}," than secure people (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":727,"children":729},{"href":53,"rel":728},[128],[730],{"type":97,"value":54},{"type":97,"value":732},"). Under collective stress, ",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":734,"children":736},{"href":735},"\u002Fblog\u002Fglossary\u002Fsecure-attachment\u002F",[737],{"type":97,"value":738},"secure attachment",{"type":97,"value":740}," functioned as a buffer; insecurity functioned as an amplifier.",{"type":92,"tag":100,"props":742,"children":744},{"id":743},"is-attachment-passed-down-from-parents",[745],{"type":97,"value":746},"Is Attachment Passed Down From Parents?",{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":748,"children":749},{},[750,752,757,759,764],{"type":97,"value":751},"Measurably, yes — but far from deterministically. A synthesis of three decades of research across ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":753,"children":754},{},[755],{"type":97,"value":756},"95 samples and 4,819 parent-child pairs",{"type":97,"value":758}," found parents' secure-autonomous attachment predicts their child's security at r = .31, and unresolved attachment transmits at r = .21 (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":760,"children":762},{"href":45,"rel":761},[128],[763],{"type":97,"value":376},{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":766,"children":767},{},[768,770,775,777,782],{"type":97,"value":769},"Two details keep this honest. First, those effects are ",{"type":92,"tag":576,"props":771,"children":772},{},[773],{"type":97,"value":774},"smaller",{"type":97,"value":776}," than the field believed 20 years earlier, when estimates ran r = .47 — better methods shrank the claim (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":778,"children":780},{"href":45,"rel":779},[128],[781],{"type":97,"value":376},{"type":97,"value":783},"). Second, caregiver sensitivity could not fully explain the transmission; researchers call the unexplained remainder the \"transmission gap.\" Translation: your parents' attachment loaded the dice, but an r of .31 leaves most of the variance to everything that happened after — including what you do next.",{"type":92,"tag":100,"props":785,"children":787},{"id":786},"can-your-attachment-style-change",[788],{"type":97,"value":789},"Can Your Attachment Style Change?",{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":791,"children":792},{},[793,795,800,802,807,809,814],{"type":97,"value":794},"The stability research generally shows about a ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":796,"children":797},{},[798],{"type":97,"value":799},"70\u002F30 split",{"type":97,"value":801},": roughly 70% of people keep the same attachment style over long stretches, while close to a third shift (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":803,"children":805},{"href":53,"rel":804},[128],[806],{"type":97,"value":54},{"type":97,"value":808},"). Style is a strong default, not a life sentence — and clinical sources consistently describe attachment patterns as changeable through therapy and supportive relationships (",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":810,"children":812},{"href":57,"rel":811},[128],[813],{"type":97,"value":58},{"type":97,"value":133},{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":816,"children":817},{},[818,820,825,827,832,834,839],{"type":97,"value":819},"The 30% who move are the interesting group, and movement runs both directions: a betrayal or chaotic relationship can knock a secure person into insecurity, while a stable partner or deliberate work can move an insecure person toward security. The earned version of security is real enough that researchers gave it a name — we cover the mechanics in ",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":821,"children":822},{"href":84},[823],{"type":97,"value":824},"earned secure attachment",{"type":97,"value":826},". If you're not sure where you currently land, start with the ",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":828,"children":829},{"href":87},[830],{"type":97,"value":831},"attachment style quiz",{"type":97,"value":833},", then read the full breakdown in ",{"type":92,"tag":125,"props":835,"children":836},{"href":78},[837],{"type":97,"value":838},"attachment styles explained",{"type":97,"value":680},{"type":92,"tag":100,"props":841,"children":843},{"id":842},"methodology-sourcing",[844],{"type":97,"value":845},"Methodology & Sourcing",{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":847,"children":848},{},[849,851,856],{"type":97,"value":850},"Every statistic on this page was verified directly against its linked source in ",{"type":92,"tag":117,"props":852,"children":853},{},[854],{"type":97,"value":855},"June 2026",{"type":97,"value":857}," — we fetched each URL and confirmed the number appears in the published abstract or article before including it. Peer-reviewed primary sources (PubMed-indexed journal abstracts) were preferred; reputable secondary summaries (Simply Psychology, Psychology Today) were used only where they report identifiable study findings. Statistics that circulate widely but could not be verified on a citable page — including several popular \"percentage of the population\" figures with no traceable study — were excluded. We'd rather publish 15 verified numbers than 25 shaky ones.",{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":859,"children":860},{},[861],{"type":97,"value":862},"Prevalence figures vary by instrument: self-report questionnaires (Hazan & Shaver-style categories, the Relationship Questionnaire) and the clinician-coded Adult Attachment Interview classify people differently, which is why we label the method behind each number. Percentages from categorical measures may not sum to 100 due to unclassifiable respondents.",{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":864,"children":865},{},[866],{"type":97,"value":867},"Future revisions of this page will incorporate anonymized, aggregate insights from Lainie usage data once that analysis is complete; no app data is included in the current version.",{"type":92,"tag":100,"props":869,"children":871},{"id":870},"cite-this-page",[872],{"type":97,"value":873},"Cite This Page",{"type":92,"tag":439,"props":875,"children":876},{},[877],{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":878,"children":879},{},[880,882,887],{"type":97,"value":881},"Lainie Editorial Team (2026). ",{"type":92,"tag":576,"props":883,"children":884},{},[885],{"type":97,"value":886},"Attachment Style Statistics: Prevalence & Relationship Outcomes.",{"type":97,"value":888}," hilainie.com\u002Fresearch\u002Fattachment-style-statistics\u002F",{"type":92,"tag":93,"props":890,"children":891},{},[892],{"type":97,"value":893},"This page may be cited and reproduced with attribution (CC BY 4.0). Link to the canonical URL above so readers can find the verified, current version of each statistic.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":895,"depth":895,"links":896},2,[897,898,899,900,901,902,903,904,905,906],{"id":102,"depth":895,"text":105},{"id":416,"depth":895,"text":419},{"id":474,"depth":895,"text":477},{"id":535,"depth":895,"text":538},{"id":599,"depth":895,"text":602},{"id":683,"depth":895,"text":686},{"id":743,"depth":895,"text":746},{"id":786,"depth":895,"text":789},{"id":842,"depth":895,"text":845},{"id":870,"depth":895,"text":873},"markdown","content:research:attachment-style-statistics.md","content","research\u002Fattachment-style-statistics.md","research\u002Fattachment-style-statistics","md",1781243309903]