5 Signs Your Partner May Have An Avoidant Attachment Style

Relationship experts share what to look out for and how to navigate the challenges that may arise.

Psychologists have been studying attachment styles for decades, but in recent years, the concept has generated quite a bit of buzz on social media.

If you’re not already familiar, your attachment style, which is essentially a way of understanding how you relate to others in your close relationships, falls into one of four categories: secure, anxious, avoidant (sometimes known as dismissive-avoidant) and disorganized (also known as fearful-avoidant).

You can read more about each attachment style here or take one of these tests (here’s a short one and a more in-depth one) to determine yours and ask your partner to do the same if you think they’d be open to it.

Here, however, we’ll focus on romantic relationships with someone who has an avoidant attachment style — characterized by a discomfort with emotional closeness, a deep need for independence and a reluctance to rely on others. Being in a relationship with someone with this attachment style comes with some unique challenges.

The bond a person has with their primary caregivers in childhood affects their attachment style in adulthood, but it’s not the only influence. One’s attachment style is not set in stone either, nor will it be the same across all of the different intimate relationships in your life.