Attachment Styles in a Sample from a Correctional Drug Treatment Facility

Substance abuse and dependence causes many problems in our society. Attachment style may be useful in the etiology of this problem. Using archival data, this study hypothesizes men in a court-ordered facility will be more likely to have an insecure attachment style. The participants were 73 males ages 18-49. The Adult Attachment Scale (AAS) was used to measure adult romantic attachment style. Through cluster analysis and conversion of the subscales of the AAS, four attachment styles were measured. Men were more likely to have an insecure attachment style especially a Fearful style. The study concludes with limitations of the results and a discussion about possible interventions based on attachment style