09 April 2011

Research Idea: Love Language and Attachment Style

Is there a correlation between the attachment style we develop as infants and toddlers, and the love language we express as adults?

I think that there just might be one.

The attachment styles are:
  • Secure
  • Avoidant
  • Ambivalent
  • Disorganized
The love languages are:
  • Words of affirmation
  • Acts of service
  • Quality time
  • Receiving gifts
  • Physical touch
Of course, it is important to understand that attachment styles, and love languages, do shift over time.  But are the shifts correlated to a matching love language.  I don't think each attachment style will have purely one particular love language, but there may be a dominant one or ones.

I believe that the implications of the findings in this research idea, is how parents play a role.  Parents may be, in a sense, creating their child's future love language.