The aim of the study is investigating the effect of attachment styles on anxiety and social support. Studies have shown that individual differs in how they get attached to someone. Attachment anxiety is the absence of attachment figures in times of need. The absence of attachment figure can result in insecure attachment, developing anxious behaviour (Mikulincer and Shaver; 2007). Conversely, secure attachment occurs when the attachment figure is always available to meet their needs and in times of distress. It has been observed that anxious individuals tend to have more conflict in their relationships, as a result develop stress (Campbell, Marshall; 2011). Whereas, attachment avoidance is when an individual tries to avoid closeness with others. The person becomes distant from the attachment figure. Recent research has shown that anxious individual have greater cortisol reactivity and slower cortisol recovery (Meuwly et al; 2012). Collins, 2004 have shown that anxiously attached individuals have low social support. Social support has been associated to positive health outcomes (Stadler et al 2012). It has also been found that people who perceive greater social support tend to have lower mortality rates from disease (Hibbard, Pope 1993). Nevertheless, there’s little research conducted on how social support can affect an individual’s attachment with others. However the mechanisms underling these processes are unknown. Therefore, it has been hypothesised that that individuals with secure attachment perceive more social support whereas, insecure anxious attachment individuals are linked to low social support as result develop psychological and physical symptoms. References Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment, Vol. 1 of Attachment and loss. Campbell L, Marshall T (2011) Anxious attachment and relationship processes: An interactionist perspective. J Pers 79: 917–947. collins NL, Feeney BC (2004) Working models of attachment shape perceptions of social support: Evidence from experimental and observational studies. J Pers Soc Psychol 87: 363–383. ? Diamond LM, Fagundes CP (2010) Psychobiological research on attachment. J Soc Pers Relat 27: 218– 225.? Hibbard JH, Pope CR (1993) The quality of social roles as predictors of morbidity and mortality. Soc Sci Med 36: 217–225.? Holmes, B. M., & Lyons?Ruth, K. (2006). The relationship questionnaire?clinical version (RQ?CV): Introducing a profoundly?distrustful attachment style. Infant mental health journal, 27(3), 310325. Meuwly N, Bodenmann G, Germann J, Bradbury TN, Ditzen B, et al. (2012) Dyadic coping, insecure attachment, and cortisol stress recovery following experimentally induced stress. J Fam Psychol 26: 937–947.? Mikulincer M, Shaver PR (2007) Attachment in adulthood: Structure, dynamics, and change. New York, NY: Guilford Press. 578 p.? Norman, L., Lawrence, N., Iles, A., Benattayallah, A., & Karl, A. (2014). Attachmentsecurity priming attenuates amygdala activation to social and linguistic threat. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 10(6), 832839. Sarason, I. G., Levine, H. M., Basham, R. B., & Sarason, B. R. (1983). Assessing social support: the social support questionnaire. Journal of personality and social psychology, 44(1), 127. Stadler G, Snyder KA, Horn AB, Shrout PE, Bolger NP (2012) Close relationships and health in daily life: A review and empirical data on intimacy and somatic symptoms. Psychosom Med 74: 398–409. ? Stanton, S. C., & Campbell, L. (2014). Perceived social support moderates the link between attachment anxiety and health outcomes. Plos one, 9(4), e95358. Zigmond, A. S., & Snaith, R. P. (1983). The hospital anxiety and depression scale. Acta psychiatrica
