Attachment Styles and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Following Sexual Infidelity in Committed Relationships
Year: 2026
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This quantitative, cross-sectional study examined differences in posttraumatic stress symptom severity among adults with secure, anxious, and avoidant attachment styles following the discovery of sexual infidelity by a committed partner within the previous two years.Guided by attachment theory, the study explored the relationship between attachment style and trauma-related symptom severity.Participants included 61 adults recruited through nonprobability convenience sampling using SurveyMonkey.Participants completed the Adult Attachment Questionnaire to determine attachment classification and the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) to assess posttraumatic stress symptom severity.A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to examine differences in mean PCL-5 scores across attachment groups.Results indicated a statistically significant difference in PTSD symptom severity among the three attachment categories, F(2, 58) = 7.41, p = .001,η² = .203.Tukey's HSD post hoc analyses revealed that participants classified as anxious or avoidant reported significantly higher PCL-5 scores than participants classified as secure, while no statistically significant difference was found between the anxious and avoidant groups.These findings support the relevance of attachment style in understanding trauma-related responses following relational betrayal.Implications for clinical practice include the potential value of incorporating attachment-informed assessment and treatment approaches when working with individuals experiencing distress related to sexual infidelity.Limitations related to convenience sampling and generalizability should be considered when interpreting the findings.
Source: ScholarWorks (Walden University)
Author: Yardbourgh, Arnetta
Institution: Walden University
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7168443310