Attachment Styles, Gender and Parental Problem Drinking

Bartholomew's (1990) four-category typology of adult attachment styles was compared with Hazan & Shaver's (1987) three-category typology in terms of three substantive issues. First, the same two dimensions were found to underlie both typologies, and the Bartholomew and Hazan & Shaver measures corresponded as predicted. Second, there were no gender differences on Hazan & Shaver's measure, in line with previous studies, but there were gender differences on Bartholomew's measure, especially in her two avoidant categories. More males than females were dismissing avoidants; more females than males were fearful avoidants. Third, a hypothesis advanced by Latty-Mann & Davis (1988) was confirmed. Adult children of alcoholics scored high on both avoidant and anxious-ambivalent scales of Hazan & Shaver's measure, and fell predominantly into Bartholomew's fearful-avoidant category, suggesting that at least some fearful adults are grown-up versions of the `disorganized, disoriented' children identified by Crittenden (1988) and by Main & Solomon (1990). These children are more common in families troubled by parental alcoholism, depression or abuse.