Adult attachment, love styles, and self-defeating personality characteristics

The present research showed for 79 men and 79 women that people with more characteristics of the proposed self-defeating personality diagnosis had less secure adult attachments. In addition, self-defeating women described their style of loving as game playing and being less romantically involved. Both men and women who were more self-defeating, once in a relationship, reported feeling dependent, jealous, and desperate to maintain it. These results are consistent with the 1993 findings of Williams and Schill that people with more self-defeating characteristics were more likely to lack secure attachments with parents.