Human Growth and Development / Unit 10 HGD 1388 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Attachment in Teen Romance
The idea
Hazan and Shaver proposed that internal working models from infant attachment carry into romance. Secure teens communicate, express emotion, negotiate needs, give and seek support, and handle conflict constructively. Anxious-preoccupied teens, called ambivalent in childhood, are eager for closeness but doubt it, seeking reassurance that partners may experience as clingy. Avoidant teens hold low expectations, rely on themselves and withdraw when dissatisfied.
In practice
One teen texting a partner every hour for reassurance, and another going silent for days after a small disagreement.
Where people slip
Anxious reassurance-seeking can push a partner away, and the withdrawal then confirms the anxious model, a self-fulfilling cycle. Romantic relationships involve affection, intimacy, exclusivity and interdependence, and most adolescents have at least one. Exam items describe a romantic pattern and ask for the attachment style.
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