Attachment Styles and Self-Image: An Exploratory Examination Using the Twenty Statement Test

Abstract

There has been little study about the relation between attachment and conscious self-image, despite that fact that Bowlby gave attention to “the working model of self” based on attachment experiences. The present study is an explanatory examination of the relation between attachment styles and the components and structures of the self-image. The Twenty Statement Test and the Japanese version of the Relationship Questionnaire were used as the measures of self-image and attachment styles, respectively. Data from 277 graduate and undergraduate students were analyzed by text mining. The results supported the hypotheses. Secure individuals tended to have a social and positive self-image. Dismissing individuals tended to have a defensive and positive through something around themselves self-image, while preoccupied individuals tended to have a negative self-image based on their ambivalent human relations. The fearful tended to have a self-image corresponding to their human relations and their ability. The psycho-dynamics of each attachment style's self-image were discussed.