Relationships Mazarion guides
Understanding adult attachment
Adult attachment research explores how people experience closeness, dependence, and uncertainty in important relationships. A style label is shorthand for patterns, not a complete explanation of a person.
Research context
Attachment anxiety and avoidance have an established research literature. Our custom 20-question assessment is not the ECR-R or ECR-RS, and its scores cannot be interpreted using those instruments’ research norms.
Two dimensions behind four labels
Attachment anxiety concerns worries about availability or rejection. Attachment avoidance concerns discomfort with closeness or dependence. Research measures commonly score these separately. Fraley’s guidance recommends interpreting dimensions rather than imposing categorical cutoffs. ECR-R interpretation guidance.
| Common label | Anxiety | Avoidance |
|---|---|---|
| Secure | Lower | Lower |
| Anxious-preoccupied | Higher | Lower |
| Dismissive-avoidant | Lower | Higher |
| Fearful-avoidant | Higher | Higher |
These adult self-report labels should not be treated as an infant attachment assessment, a trauma finding, or a psychiatric diagnosis.
Which relationship are you thinking about?
You may answer differently when thinking about a partner, a parent, or a close friend. The ECR-RS was designed to study attachment orientations across relationships, rather than assuming one answer describes every bond. Fraley and colleagues, 2011.
A question before the label
“I worry when I do not get a reply.” Does that describe one unreliable relationship, most of your relationships, or a particularly difficult week? The distinction matters to your interpretation.
A quiz cannot determine why someone behaves a certain way or reconstruct their childhood. Someone else’s silence is not enough information to assign them an attachment style.
What Mazarion’s quiz actually does
We ask twenty questions, five assigned to each of four style groups. The highest group total becomes the leading label. The displayed anxiety and avoidance indices combine selected group totals; they are not ECR scores. Our methodology guide gives the formulas.
The chart above explains a research model. Mazarion’s label comes from ranked group totals, not from applying boundaries to that two-dimensional model. A percentage is a summary of your answers, not a probability that you have a particular style.
Use the pattern to make a clear request
Instead of “You are avoidant,” try describing an event and a request: “When our conversation ends without a plan, I feel unsure. Could we agree on when to return to it?” This is an example of a conversation, not a treatment protocol or a guarantee of change.
Evaluate the other person’s actual response, your boundaries, and the context. An attachment label does not require you to tolerate behavior that hurts you or make you responsible for changing a partner.
Take it into your day
A question to sit with
Think of one relationship. What happened, what did you assume it meant, and what could you ask directly?
Sources & evidence
- Fraley et al. (2011) · Attachment orientations across relationships
Primary research on the ECR-RS measure and relationship-specific attachment.
- R. Chris Fraley · ECR-R scoring and interpretation
The measure developer’s guidance on anxiety, avoidance, and the limitations of categorical cutoffs.
Research about a framework does not validate Mazarion’s custom questionnaire. Scoring descriptions on this page were checked against our implementation.