Intimacy and Couple Satisfaction: The Moderating Role of Romantic Attachment

Abstract

The present study extends findings regarding the established relation between intimacy (emotional and sexual)and couple satisfaction by investigating dyadic processes of intimacy (actor and partner effects) and themoderating role of gender and insecure romantic attachment on this relation. Using a sample of 117 heterosexualcouples, results analyzed through an Actor-Partner-Interdependence Model revealed that only actor and partneremotional intimacy were significantly and positively related with actor couple satisfaction when examinedsimultaneously with sexual intimacy; stronger effects were revealed for actor versus partner emotional intimacy.Actor avoidant attachment was also found to moderate the aforementioned association, such that a decreasedpositive relation was demonstrated between actor emotional intimacy and actor couple satisfaction. Thus, resultssuggest that emotional intimacy may play a less important role in the attainment of satisfactory couplerelationships amongst individuals exhibiting higher attachment avoidance. The myriad of additional practical andclinical implications of findings are discussed.