Comparing attachment across relationship domains: Measure of attachment for romantic partners, same-sex friends, and opposite-sex friends

The purpose of this study was to develop a battery of measures designed to assess attachment styles across three relationship types; romantic partners, same-sex friendships, and opposite-sex friendships. Three hundred and twenty participant pool subjects completed a questionnaire consisting of 160-likert type attachment items. Data reduction indicated that same-sex friends (54.771%), opposite-sex friends, (54.779%), and romantic partners (51.389%) all accounted for a significant amount of the overall variance. The final measure consisted of 27 items, with 9 items loading on each factor of secure, avoidant, and ambivalent. Contrary to some attachment theorists (Barthlowmew & Horowitz, 1991), we only found evidence for 3 distinct attachment constructs. This may be due to the differential nature of the behavioral patterns between different types of relationships (Furman & Buhrmester, 1985).