A Dyadic Analysis of Chinese Young Adults' Insecure Attachment and Romantic Relationship Quality: The Moderating Role of Disintegration Avoidance

This study aimed to investigate the dyadic association between romantically involved young couples' insecure attachment (attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance) and romantic relationship quality in the Chinese cultural context, with the moderating role of disintegration avoidance. We recruited 297 dyads of Chinese couples who were currently in heterosexual romantic relationships. The couples completed measures of their adult attachment orientation, disintegration avoidance, and romantic relationship quality. Cross-sectional actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) revealed the following results: (A) Actor effects existed. Women's insecure attachment (both attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance) was negatively associated with their own perceptions of romantic relationship quality, while men's attachment avoidance was negatively associated with their own relationship quality. (B) Partner effects of attachment avoidance existed for both genders. Chinese couples' attachment avoidance was negatively associated with their partners' perceptions of romantic relationship quality. (C) Significant moderating effects of men's disintegration avoidance existed between both men's and women's attachment avoidance and men's relationship quality, as well as men's attachment anxiety and women's relationship quality. The present study provided evidence on how insecure attachment hindered relationship quality and how disintegration avoidance moderated such associations through dyadic pathways in the Chinese context.