...and more integrating and compromising conflict behavior for securely attached individuals compared to preoccupieds, dismissives, and fearfuls. Findings are discussed in terms of the need to consider friendship-specific relational maintenance behaviors, the conceptual link between attachment styles and conflict styles, and the implications for friendships.

Individuals' attachment style differences are a reflection of the interaction people have with significant others, beginning with their primary caregivers. Numerous studies have considered the effect of attachment styles on individuals' communication behavior within their adult relationships. Research tends to look at the relationships between people's self-reported attachment styles and their own self-reported behavior (e.g., Anders & Tucker, 2000; Mikulincer & Selinger, 2001), or their behaviors as coded by observers (e.g., Guerrero, 1996; Guerrero & Burgoon, 1996; Le Poire, Shepard, & Duggan, 1999). With few exceptions (e.g., Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991), attachment research does not solicit relational partners' perceptions, particularly friends' perspectives. Friends have different relationship expectations than romantic partners do and people value friendships differently than other relationships (see Duck, 1991; 1992; Knapp, Ellis, & Williams, 1980; Rawlins, 1993). Thus, research on attachment in romantic relationships (e.g., Feeney & Noller, 1991; Guerrero; Hazan & Shaver, 1987) may not generalize to adult friendships. Furthermore, although attachment style has been linked to conflict management (Creasey, Kershaw, Boston, 1999; Cohn, Silver, Cowan, Cowan, & Pearson, 1992; Levy & Davis, 1988; Pistole, 1989), researchers have not addressed the effect of individuals' attachment style on their conflict behaviors from the perspective of their relational partners. The purpose of the present study is to determine whether partner perceptions of conflict styles and relational maintenance strategies differ as a function of attachment styles, specifically within the context of friendships.

First conceptualized by Bowlby (1969, 1973, 1980), attachment theory proposes that infants form a working mental model of self and other through their interactions with primary caregivers. This cognitive model stems from socio-emotional patterns the primary caregiver models for the infant during times of separation and reunion (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978; Bell & Ainsworth, 1972). Researchers reason that attachment patterns formed in early childhood as a means of regulating physical and emotional proximity to caregivers extend into adult relationships (Baxter & Bullis, 1986; Feeney & Noller, 1991). As adults, people's characteristic style of forming attachments to others lead them to act in ways that tend to reinforce their mental models of self and other (Guerrero, 1996).

Hazan and Shaver (1987) proposed three main attachment styles (secure, avoidant, and anxious/ambivalent), while Bartholomew and Horowitz (1991) proposed a four-category model of adult attachment styles: secures have positive views of themselves and others, and are comfortable with intimacy and autonomy in relationships; preoccupieds have negative views of themselves, but positive views of others, and are dependent on others in relationships; dismissives have positive views of themselves and negative views of others, resist intimacy, and are compulsively self-reliant; and fearfuls have negative views of themselves and others, and are afraid of intimacy and rejection in relationships.

A limited number of studies have focused on the effect of attachment styles on people's friendship behaviors and attitudes (Florian, Mikulincer, & Bucholtz, 1995; Mikulincer & Selinger, 2001). However, insights into the likely influence of attachment styles in friendships may be gleaned from the substantial body of research on attachment styles in romantic relationships. Individuals with a secure attachment style have been found to have relationships characterized by longer duration (Feeney & Noller, 1991; Hazan & Shaver, 1987), greater relationship intimacy (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991), more positive perceptions of their partners (Young & Acitelli, 1998), and better relationship quality (Collins & Read, 1990) than non-secure types. Given that attachment styles have been shown to affect relational quality, it is important for communication scholars to investigate the behaviors that people with different attachment styles may enact to achieve different relationship outcomes. To this end, this research investigates two areas of communication behavior relevant to relational quality: relational maintenance and conflict management.

Simon and Baxter (1993) found that securely attached individuals reported engaging in more prosocial relational maintenance strategies (i.e., behaviors providing positive experiences and expressing positive emotions and reassurances about the relationship)...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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