Socioeconomic disadvantage as a risk factor for attachment insecurity: the moderating role of gender

Abstract

Although socioeconomic conditions are crucial predictors of adult attach ment, the relationships between attachment patterns and distinct dimensions of socioeconomic disadvantage, reflecting its structure as a multi-faceted social construct, remain largely unexplored. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of the previous studies utilized samples from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies, so little is known about how these relationships unfold in underrepresented cultural contexts. To fill these gaps, we explored the relationships between attachment dimensions and multiple indicators of socioeconomic disadvantage in a large community sample of married couples (N = 2622) in Turkey. We expected that indicators of socioeconomic disadvantage would be positively related to both attachment anxiety and avoidance, particularly among women. In line with our expectations, we found that several indicators of socioeconomic disadvantage are related to both dimensions of insecure attachment. Furthermore, lower income levels emerged as a predictor for women’s attachment avoidance. Results are discussed in light of gender, evolutionary, and cultural perspectives.