title: A meta-analysis of the relation between patient adult attachment style and the working alliance.
abstract: This meta-analysis synthesizes research on the relation between patient adult attachment style and patient-rated working alliance. A random-effects model was used to calculate the mean weighted product-moment correlation (r) for 24 studies (12 published in peer-reviewed journals and 12 unpublished doctoral dissertations) of individual outpatient therapy with adults. The mean weighted r for attachment avoidance and alliance was -.137, p<.001, and the mean weighted r for attachment anxiety and alliance was -.121, p<.001. These findings suggest that therapists should attend to attachment in order to foster alliance and have additional implications for theory and future research.
authors.affiliation: a Psychology , University of Massachusetts Amherst , Amherst , MA , USA.
authors.forename: Samantha L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Bernecker
authors.forename: Kenneth N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.forename: William D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Ellison
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D013811:Psychotherapeutic Processes; D011613:Psychotherapy; D055815:Young Adult