The Relational Nature of Attachment and Power: Attachment Avoidance and Withdrawal Limit Partners’ Power

Power emerges from the relational dynamics between two people, but it is often studied as a feature of the individual. The current studies apply a dyadic perspective to show that core relational beliefs not only shape actors’ relationship power but also generate behaviors that constrain their partner’s power. Across five studies with Israeli, German, and New Zealand couples (total 1,256 dyads), greater attachment avoidance and anxiety were associated with lower actor power. Revealing novel dyadic effects, greater attachment avoidance was associated with partner’s experiencing lower power. Studies 4 and 5 showed that actors higher in avoidance enacted greater withdrawal during conflict and daily life as perceived by partners and observed by independent coders. Actors’ withdrawal, in turn, predicted partners experiencing lower power. These findings advance power and relationship theories and research by highlighting how relational characteristics and behaviors (withdrawal) likely shape the experience of both actors’ and partners’ power in social relationships.