(PS8-4) Association Between Attachment Style and Reasons Reported for Poaching Behavior

Behavior in which an individual attempts to attract someone already in a relationship with another has been referred to as “poaching” (Schmitt & Buss, 2001). Adult attachment focuses on feelings of anxiety or avoidance in close relationships. Avoidant attachment has been found to positively correlate with rates of poaching behavior whereas anxious attachment has not shown associations with poaching behavior (Schachner & Shaver, 2002). The goal of the current study is to examine self-reported reasons for poaching. Specifically, we will explore if self-reported reasons for poaching behavior are associated with attachment style, if reasons vary by gender, and if gender moderates potential associations between attachment style and poaching reasons.

Data were collected in 2006 as part of a larger survey study of undergraduates. From the larger study, participants were selected if they endorsed at least one prior experience of attempting to poach. These 228 participants (84 men, 124 women, 20 did not report gender) were 65.6% White non-Hispanic, 10.7% Hispanic, 9.3% Asian, 4.7% Black, 0.9% Pacific Islander, 0.5% Indigenous, and 8.4% other/multiracial. These participants were asked to rate six possible poaching reasons from 1 = Not at all a reason to 7 = Main reason: To meet sexual needs, Because there aren’t enough good partners to go around, Because I was a better match for the person than their current partner, Because I wasn’t happy with my current situation, The thrill of competition with another person, and I was in love with the person. Following this, participants were invited to list additional reasons in an open-ended format. The Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory (ECRI, Fraley et al., 2000) was used to assess average levels of attachment avoidance (“I prefer not to show my partner how I feel deep down”) and attachment anxiety (“I worry about being abandoned”). 

Of the six possible reasons, men and women were significantly different on only “To meet sexual needs” (t = 4.18, p < .001) as a reason for poaching, with men reporting higher scores than women. In terms of correlations between attachment dimensions and poaching reasons, higher scores on anxiety were significantly associated with higher scores on the item “Because I wasn’t happy with my current situation” for both men (r= .29, p < .05) and women (r= .20, p < .05). Women’s scores on the poaching reason “Because there aren’t enough partners to go around” were significantly associated their scores on both anxious (r= .27, p < .05) and avoidant attachment (r = .20, p < .05). No other correlation between attachment and poaching reasons was significant. Of note, when evaluating associations between attachment and poaching reasons for the entire sample (men and women), no association was significantly moderated by gender.

The final conference project will also include thematic coding of the open-ended item assessing other reasons for poaching. The results presented here suggest men may be more likely to endorse personal sexual motivations for poaching, that anxiety may drive some motivation for poaching related to personal distress (unhappy with situation), and that, for women, both anxiety and avoidance can relate to opportunity deficit motivations (not enough partners) for poaching.