The Push or Pull of Romantic Relationships for Women with an Insecure Attachment Style: A Hermeneutic Literature Review

Abstract

The increasing public awareness of attachment theory and the impact of insecure attachment on romantic relationships highlights the importance of gaining insight into the implications of one’s attachment style. This insight can aid insecurely attached adults in comprehending their behaviour, interpersonal connections, and the influence of their attachment styles on their romantic relationships. The current dissertation has a particular interest and focuses on insecure attachment in adult women and its impact on romantic relationships. Using a hermeneutic methodology, a hermeneutic literature review was conducted to investigate the research question, “What are the implications of insecure attachment in adult women in romantic relationships?”.

The literature review findings revealed that romantic love is theorised as an attachment process. The adult attachment behavioural model posits that insecurely attached adults avoid pain, abandonment, intimacy, and vulnerability by deactivating or hyperactivating their attachment behavioural system. Due to their increased susceptibility to narcissism and lower self-esteem, people insecurely attached employ particular defense mechanisms to mitigate their behaviour. In women, insecure attachment is linked to negatively affecting sexual behaviour, functioning, and dynamics. This research can help mental health professionals understand insecure women, increase clients’ awareness of how attachment styles affect interpersonal and intrapersonal dynamics, and reassure insecurely attached women in romantic relationships that they are not alone in their experiences.