TY  - JOUR
AB  - Trust is essential to healthy intimate relationships, yet many individuals struggle to establish and maintain it. Guided by attachment theory, this study examined whether insecure attachment styles (anxious and avoidant) predict trust difficulty, and whether these associations are mediated by flirting styles (traditional and polite). Gender was explored as a potential moderator. A secondary analysis was conducted on data from 1,293 adults who completed a cross-sectional online survey measuring attachment, flirting styles, and trust difficulty. Regression, mediation, and moderated mediation analyses were performed using PROCESS macro. Both attachment styles positively predicted trust difficulty, respectively. Anxious attachment was associated with greater use of traditional flirting, and avoidant attachment with polite flirting. These flirting styles, in turn, predicted increased trust difficulty, indicating partial mediation. Gender moderated only the traditional flirting pathway, with a stronger effect for men. Findings suggest that attachment insecurity may contribute to trust difficulty through distinct early-stage communication behaviours that, while intended to initiate intimacy, may unintentionally undermine it. These insights underscore the importance of targeting maladaptive communication, particularly during the early stages of relational development, in clinical interventions.
AU  - Groves, R
AU  - Peel, R
DA  - 2025/01/01
DO  - 10.54899/ijpr.v19i2.629
JO  - Interpersona
PB  - Study Group on Assessment, Therapy and Emotions
PY  - 2025/01/01
TI  - Trust Difficulty in Intimate Relationships Understanding the Impact of Insecure Attachment and Flirting Styles
VL  - 19
Y1  - 2025/01/01
Y2  - 2026/05/17
ER  -