Deloitte_YW August-2018 Dummy

49
Loves Me, Loves Me Not!
Romantic Anxiety
Kills Love
What happens to your
relationship if you constantly live
under the terror of your partner
walking out on you? While your
anxiety might be unfounded, your
fears will take the relationship
spiralling downwards. In a recent
study in the ‘Journal of Social and
Personal Relationships’, Florida
State University graduate student
Ashley Cooper decided to find out
what high levels of fluctuation
in the feeling of security in
a person’s relationship may
actually do.
“I was interested in how
attachment security impacted
partners' experiences in their
relationship on a daily basis,” says
Cooper. “Some couples experience
instability from one day to the next
in their relationship, so we sought
out to explore what could increase
or decrease this volatility.”
Cooper and her colleagues
found that those who experience
high levels of anxiety about their
partner's commitment are likely
to experience more volatility
in their feelings about the
relationship. Furthermore, when
women experienced this anxiety,
their male partners experienced
similar volatility in their feelings
about the relationship. The
researchers also looked at the
couples in which one or both
partners experienced behaviours
associated with the distrust of
relying on other people and
attachment anxiety. They found
that when one person had high
attachment avoidance, both
had low levels of relationship
satisfaction. The high attachment
anxiety increased volatility in the
quality of the relationship. Say the
researchers, stay attuned to what
your partner is saying and avoid
making assumptions that can
escalate conflict. Trusting in your
partner and your relationship is
important to daily interactions
and stability for your relationship.
August 2018 • Issue III • Volume VII • yourwellness.com