Association between one’s attachment to parents and subsequent attachment to a partner

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to explore the association between individuals’ attachments to their mothers and fathers, and their subsequent attachments to partners, based on research conducted in Slovenia. Participants in the empirical study were antenuptial couples who attended the premarital counselling course organized by and offered through the Franciscan Family Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia. In order to explore more fully the concept of attachment, the authors of the study focused on the following dimensions: trust, communication and estrangement. The results of the study showed greater similarities in the three identified dimensions to the way in which both women and men experience attachment to their mothers and partners, while there were marked differences in the subjects’ experience of attachment to their fathers.