A two-dimensional approach to adult romantic attachment and its implications for heterosexual interaction in males.

Abstract

This thesis reviewed attachment theory with an emphasis on the domain of adult romantic relationships. The question of whether attachment was best measured as being composed of styles or dimensions, as advanced by the adult romantic domain, was discussed and a method for providing evidence concerning this debate, termed taxometric analysis, was explained. Following this, studies in the sex offender literature that used attachment style were reviewed. The findings from these studies were tested using a dimensional approach to measuring attachment. Firstly a Discriminant Analysis was performed between two groups, male University students and a group of males who were in prison and undergoing treatment for sexual offending. Then the data was combined in order to perform a taxometric analysis. Lastly, a range of interpersonal functioning variables and variables thought to be associated with an Internal Working Model were tested against dimensions of attachment. Results showed that students and sexual offenders could be discriminated from each other only by social self-esteem scores. The taxometric analysis showed no evidence of the presence of attachment styles. Correlations to attachment dimensions showed that previous theories using attachment style were somewhat consistent but the findings from both groups were equivalent. The limitations and implications of this study were then discussed.