Examining of the effect of attachment styles of individuals in a romantic relationship on their mood and attachment styles of each other

This study aimed to examine the mediating role of one's attachment styles in the relationship between one's partner's attachment style and one's mood in romantic relationships. In addition, couples' attachment styles and moods were also examined in terms of demographic variables. The participants consisted of 231 couples (231 women and 231 men) who had been in a romantic relationship for six months or more. Data were collected using a purposive sampling method. The data were collected through the Personal Information Form, Inventory of Experiences in Close Relationships-II (YİYE-II), and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21). SPSS.25 and M-Plus version 7 software were used to analyze the data. Path analysis was conducted to examine the predictive effects of the partner's attachment styles on the depression, anxiety, and stress levels of the person in romantic relationships and to test the mediator role of one's own attachment style. To determine whether attachment styles (anxious and avoidant) and mood (depression, anxiety, and stress) differed according to demographic variables, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent sample t-test were used. In the model predicting the emotional state of female participants, male anxious attachment scores positively predicted female anxious and avoidant attachment scores. Female anxious attachment scores positively predicted female depression, anxiety, and stress scores. Female avoidant attachment scores positively predicted female depression and anxiety scores. Male anxious attachment scores directly positively predicted female depression scores. In addition, female anxious attachment scores played a full mediator role on the association between male anxious attachment and female anxiety and stress scores, and a partial mediator role on female depression scores. In the male-based model, female anxious attachment scores positively predicted male anxious and avoidant attachment scores. Male anxious and avoidant attachment positively predicted male depression, anxiety, and stress scores. In addition, male anxious attachment played a full mediator role on the associations between female anxious attachment and male anxiety, depression, and stress scores. Male avoidant attachment also fully mediated the relationships between female anxious attachment and male depression scores. Keywords: Attachment styles, Dyadic analysis, Mood, Romantic relationships.