Attachment and Distress Following Marital Separation

Abstract

This paper reviews the use of the concept of attachment in adulthood and assesses its utility in understanding reactions to marital separation. It refines the concept of attachment by distinguishing it from generalized distressed responses to divorce. Among separated adults, characteristics of the marital situation account for feelings of loss of attachment but do not contribute to the explanation of generalized distress. Contextual resources and stressors in economic, social, and parental spheres are shown to mitigate and/or exacerbate feelings of distress above and beyond those due to attachment. Although attachment appears to be a heuristic concept in the understanding of adult relationships, studies of non-separated, but presumably attached, adults are needed to fully test the usefulness of this concept.

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