“Head Over Heels in Love”: Infatuation and Companionate Love - The Role of Attachment, Emotion Regulation, and Relationship Satisfaction
(2023) PSYP01 20231Department of Psychology
- Abstract
- While some individuals experience romantic relationships as overwhelming and intense, others experience their relationship as more secure and stable. Previous research has shown that individual differences in attachment account for various characteristics of romantic relationships. The present study (N = 280) investigates why romantic relationships are experienced differently, proposing infatuation to be predicted negatively by avoidance and positively by anxiety, whereas companionate love is thought to be predicted negatively by both dimensions. Furthermore, emotion dysregulation is hypothesized to play a mediating, and relationship satisfaction a moderating role in this relationship. Regression analyses showed partial support for the... (More)
- While some individuals experience romantic relationships as overwhelming and intense, others experience their relationship as more secure and stable. Previous research has shown that individual differences in attachment account for various characteristics of romantic relationships. The present study (N = 280) investigates why romantic relationships are experienced differently, proposing infatuation to be predicted negatively by avoidance and positively by anxiety, whereas companionate love is thought to be predicted negatively by both dimensions. Furthermore, emotion dysregulation is hypothesized to play a mediating, and relationship satisfaction a moderating role in this relationship. Regression analyses showed partial support for the hypotheses. Attachment anxiety predicted infatuation positively, whereas attachment avoidance predicted companionate love negatively while controlling for each dimension respectively. Mediation analyses showcased emotion regulation to neither mediate the effect between attachment anxiety and the two love properties nor between attachment avoidance and companionate love. Lastly, relationship satisfaction moderated the effect between attachment avoidance, but not anxiety, and companionate love. The results of this study implicate that infatuation is more likely to be found in rather anxious individuals, while avoidant individuals are less likely to experience companionship in relationships. Moderation analyses results suggest that high relationship satisfaction can mitigate the negative effect of attachment avoidance on companionate love. Findings of this study reveal a complex interaction between attachment orientations and romantic love properties extending existing knowledge about the effects of individual differences on the experience of love. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9124560
- author
- Paschalis, Lenard LU and Klein, Tim LU
- supervisor
-
- Eva Hoff LU
- organization
- course
- PSYP01 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- infatuation, companionate love, attachment, romantic relationships
- language
- English
- id
- 9124560
- date added to LUP
- 2023-06-13 16:34:03
- date last changed
- 2023-06-13 16:34:03
@misc{9124560,
abstract = {{While some individuals experience romantic relationships as overwhelming and intense, others experience their relationship as more secure and stable. Previous research has shown that individual differences in attachment account for various characteristics of romantic relationships. The present study (N = 280) investigates why romantic relationships are experienced differently, proposing infatuation to be predicted negatively by avoidance and positively by anxiety, whereas companionate love is thought to be predicted negatively by both dimensions. Furthermore, emotion dysregulation is hypothesized to play a mediating, and relationship satisfaction a moderating role in this relationship. Regression analyses showed partial support for the hypotheses. Attachment anxiety predicted infatuation positively, whereas attachment avoidance predicted companionate love negatively while controlling for each dimension respectively. Mediation analyses showcased emotion regulation to neither mediate the effect between attachment anxiety and the two love properties nor between attachment avoidance and companionate love. Lastly, relationship satisfaction moderated the effect between attachment avoidance, but not anxiety, and companionate love. The results of this study implicate that infatuation is more likely to be found in rather anxious individuals, while avoidant individuals are less likely to experience companionship in relationships. Moderation analyses results suggest that high relationship satisfaction can mitigate the negative effect of attachment avoidance on companionate love. Findings of this study reveal a complex interaction between attachment orientations and romantic love properties extending existing knowledge about the effects of individual differences on the experience of love.}},
author = {{Paschalis, Lenard and Klein, Tim}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{“Head Over Heels in Love”: Infatuation and Companionate Love - The Role of Attachment, Emotion Regulation, and Relationship Satisfaction}},
year = {{2023}},
}