"Anxious attachment" and "avoidant" have become everyday dating vocabulary. Behind the buzzwords is a solid line of research on how adults experience closeness and distance in relationships.
This guide explains the two dimensions that matter, the four styles they produce, and how to read your result from our attachment style test.
Adult attachment style describes how a person experiences closeness and separation in relationships, measured on two independent dimensions: attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance. This test administers the Experiences in Close Relationships–Revised (ECR-R), a thirty-six item research scale, and locates you in one of four regions: secure, anxious-preoccupied, dismissive-avoidant, or fearful-avoidant.
Two dimensions, not four boxes
Attachment anxiety is how much you worry about a partner's availability and responsiveness. Attachment avoidance is how uncomfortable you are with closeness and depending on someone. The two are independent, so you can be high on one, both, or neither.
- ✦Secure: low anxiety, low avoidance.
- ✦Anxious-preoccupied: high anxiety, low avoidance.
- ✦Dismissive-avoidant: low anxiety, high avoidance.
- ✦Fearful-avoidant: high anxiety, high avoidance.
How it is measured
Our test administers the Experiences in Close Relationships–Revised (ECR-R), a 36-item research scale introduced by Fraley, Waller and Brennan in 2000. One disclosed change: the published scale uses 7 response points, and we use 5 so every test on the site works the same way. Response granularity has minimal effect on reliability, and the result page says so.
Can attachment style change?
Yes. Attachment patterns are learned in relationships and can shift in them. Longitudinal research finds meaningful movement toward security over time, especially in stable relationships and in therapy. Your result describes a current pattern, not a permanent trait.
What it is not
The ECR-R measures normal variation in how adults relate. It is not a diagnostic tool, and none of the four styles is a disorder. If your relationships are causing you real distress, that is worth discussing with a qualified therapist rather than solving with a questionnaire.
Curious about the relationship itself rather than your pattern within it? See our guide to Sternberg's triangular theory of love.