Attachment style and person‐centered comforting

This study examines a link between attachment style and person‐centered comforting. Research suggests that those with secure attachment beliefs tend to be better comforters than those who are more avoidantly or anxiously attached. This paper suggests that one possible explanation lies in secures' ability to construct person‐centered comforting messages. The results of data analysis support this suggestion. Both continuous measures of attachment beliefs (comfort with closeness and anxiety) and self selected attachment style were reliably related to person‐centered message construction. Specifically, comfort with closeness was positively associated, and anxiety was found to have an “inverted U” shaped nonlinear association, with person‐centered comforting message production. This relationship remained after participant sex, cognitive complexity, and unwillingness to communicate were controlled. Implications for attachment theory and the constructivist approach to communication are discussed.