title: The functional discrimination of attachment and affiliation. Theory and empirical demonstration.
abstract: Volunteer college students completed a categorisation task designed to test the hypothesis that adults organise their expectations of relationships in a manner that reflects a functional distinction between attachment and affiliation. Terms associated with the provision of security and with characteristics theoretically identified as definitive of attachment relationships were significantly more likely to be associated with the relationship identified as 'lover'. There was substantial overlap between attachment and affiliation relationships in functions relating to intimacy and disclosure. These results highlight the need to differentiate close relationships by functional rather than structural characteristics.
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Sciences Research Group, Faculty of Medicine, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Sheldon
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: West
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008149:Love; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D010556:Personality Tests; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012931:Social Environment; D012944:Social Support