ATTACHMENT ANXIETY AND PARTNER GUILT 241 Hurt and Anger (Sudy 1) Anxiety and Threatening Relationship Events on Daily Feelingsof Predicting hurt Predicting anger Attachment anxiety and threatening relationship events B SE B SE hurtful behavio 6.16 Anxiety X Conflict ·p<05."p<01. (solid line of hu ful partner was greater for =.07.1=300. =08=353 01)in anxiet f w(left side of Figure 1B)verst us high (right side of Figure anxiety repor intim felt greater hu 43.p<.0 th same low levels of r in the 13. experienced nger aled the c osite haf of Table 1).Individuals higher in attachment ompanng the ellects of pa or on anger at A.Daily Hurt Feelings B.Daily Anger 22 2.2 21 -High Anxiet 2.1 -High Anxiet 0 19 1.9 18 1.7 1.7 16 16 1.5 1.5 High Hurtful Partner Low Hurtful Partner Behavio Partner The ing effect of individuals'attachme n the links be daily levels A)and anger (Pancl B on of t consider two sets of simple effects to evaluate the meaning of the interaction. First, comparing the slopes of the lines in Figure 1A, the effect of hurtful partner behavior on hurt feelings was greater for individuals higher (dashed line; b
.20, t
10.01, p  .01) versus lower (solid line; b
.08, t
3.53, p  .01) in anxiety. Second, contrasting the differences between low and high in anxiety on days of low (left side of Figure 1A) versus high (right side of Figure 1A) hurtful partner behavior, anxious intimates felt greater hurt when their partner behaved in hurtful ways (b
.16, t
4.99, p  .01) but felt the same low levels of hurt in the absence of hurtful partner behavior (b
.00, t
0.05, p
.96). Thus, anxious individuals experienced greater hurt specifically on days they faced relationship threats. Analogous models predicting daily anger revealed the opposite pattern (shown in the right top of Table 1 and Panel B of Figure 1). Comparing the effects of partners’ hurtful behavior on anger at low versus high anxiety, individuals lower in anxiety (solid line; b
.16, t
6.83, p  .01) responded with greater anger compared to individuals higher in anxiety (dashed line; b
.07, t
3.00, p  .01). Examining differences between low and high anxiety on days of low (left side of Figure 1B) versus high (right side of Figure 1B) hurtful partner behavior, intimates higher in anxiety reported less anger when their partner behaved in hurtful ways (b
–.12, t
3.43, p  .01) and the same low levels of anger in the absence of hurtful partner behavior (b
–.01, t
0.13, p
.90). Thus, intimates higher in anxiety responded to relationship threats with less anger compared to individuals lower in anxiety. The pattern shown in Figure 1 was replicated when assessing reactions to conflict and disagreement with the partner (see bottom half of Table 1). Individuals higher in attachment anxiety reacted with greater hurt and less anger compared to intimates lower in Table 1 The Effects of Attachment Anxiety and Threatening Relationship Events on Daily Feelings of Hurt and Anger (Study 1) Attachment anxiety and threatening relationship events Predicting hurt Predicting anger B SE t B SE t Response to partner’s hurtful behavior Prior day criterion .05 .01 3.93

.09 .01 6.16

Other emotion .63 .01 46.18

.70 .02 45.60

Avoidance .03 .03 0.98 .07 .03 2.39
Anxiety .08 .03 2.94
.06 .03 2.09
Partner’s hurtful behavior .14 .02 8.98

.11 .02 6.68

Anxiety  Partner’s Hurtful Behavior .06 .01 4.45

.04 .01 3.04

Response to conflict Prior day criterion .05 .01 3.98

.08 .01 6.74

Other emotion .55 .02 34.75

.55 .02 34.42

Avoidance .01 .03 0.49 .06 .03 2.37
Anxiety .07 .02 2.86

.06 .03 2.31
Conflict .15 .01 12.35

.25 .01 21.26

Anxiety  Conflict .05 .01 6.15

.03 .01 3.96


p  .05.

p  .01. Figure 1. The moderating effect of individuals’ attachment anxiety on the links between daily levels of partner’s hurtful behavior and individuals’ daily feelings of hurt (Panel A) and anger (Panel B) reported every day for a 3-week period (Study 1). This figure presents two separate two-way interactions (see the top half of Table 1). Panel A graphs predicted values of individuals’ hurt feelings, and Panel B graphs predicted values of individuals’ anger, as a function of their partner’s hurtful behavior and individuals’ level of attachment anxiety. High and low values are indexed at 1 SD above and below the mean. This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. ATTACHMENT ANXIETY AND PARTNER GUILT 241