Repairing Distance and Facilitating Support: Reassurance Seeking by Highly Avoidant Individuals Is Associated With Greater Closeness and Partner Support.

The interpersonal consequences of reassurance seeking may depend on who is seeking reassurance. This research examined whether greater reassurance seeking during couples' support-relevant discussions was associated with greater partner support when enacted by more avoidant individuals who typically minimize dependence in their relationships. Three dyadic studies (N= 246 couples) demonstrated that the interpersonal effects of reassurance seeking were moderated by attachment avoidance. Greater reassurance seeking repaired the lack of closeness thatpartnersof highly avoidant individuals typically feel (Study 3), and these partners, in turn, provided more support across studies. In contrast, greater reassurance seeking by less avoidant individuals was associated withpartnersfeeling less close (Study 3), but was not associated with partners' support across studies. These results provide the first evidence that reassurance seeking during support-relevant interactions can repair distance and facilitate support, but these positive interpersonal effects occur when reassurance seekers are high in attachment avoidance.