Attachment Style Quiz

This quiz scores the two dimensions attachment research actually measures — anxiety about closeness and avoidance of it — and shows you both numbers, not just a label. You get the whole result on this page: no email step, no account, nothing held back.

Take the attachment style quiz

5 min

12 statements, about 5 minutes. Answer for how things usually are, not for how they were on your worst week. Your full result appears the moment you finish.

1. I worry that the person I'm close to won't want to stay emotionally close to me.
2. When someone matters to me, I often need reassurance that they still care.
3. I'm afraid that my close relationships could end suddenly or without warning.
4. If someone I care about is less responsive, I quickly start to worry about being rejected.
5. I feel uneasy depending on other people, even when the relationship is close.
6. I prefer to keep some emotional distance rather than be fully open with a partner.
7. I'm uncomfortable sharing vulnerable feelings, even with someone I trust.
8. When relationships become very close, I often feel the urge to pull back.
9. I worry that I'm not as important to the other person as they are to me.
10. I often overthink small signs — tone, timing, message length — to work out whether someone is upset with me.
11. I feel tense when someone expects me to rely on them, or to let them rely on me.
12. Even when things are going well, part of me expects closeness to become unsafe or disappointing.

How this quiz is scored

Every statement belongs to one of two scales. Six measure attachment anxiety, the expectation that closeness will be withdrawn; six measure attachment avoidance, the discomfort of depending on someone. Each scale runs from 0 to 36, and a score at or above 18 counts as the high side of that scale.

That cut is the midpoint of the scale, chosen because it is transparent and easy to check for yourself. It is a line for reading your own answers, not a clinical threshold, and a score of 17 differs from a score of 19 by almost nothing. Where you land close to the line, the result says so.

Why four styles come out of two scores

The four familiar names are the four corners of those two scales. Low on both is secure. High anxiety with low avoidance is anxious. High avoidance with low anxiety is dismissive-avoidant. High on both is fearful-avoidant.

Bartholomew proposed that four-corner layout in 1990, deriving it from how positively a person views themselves and how positively they view others. Brennan, Clark and Shaver then showed in 1998 that adult attachment self-reports factor cleanly into anxiety and avoidance — the two scales used here. The two pairs of dimensions are not the same pair, but they put the same four names in the same four corners.

A corner is a summary, not a container. Two people in the same corner can sit at opposite ends of it, which is why this quiz shows you the scores instead of hiding them behind the name.

When this quiz is the wrong tool

An attachment style describes something that repeats across relationships and across years. If what you are dealing with is recent, tied to one particular person, or arrived alongside burnout, grief or a betrayal, this frame will fit badly and may point you at the wrong thing.

It also cannot tell you whether a relationship is safe. Control, intimidation and fear are not measured here and need no label to be taken seriously. If that is the question, start with crisis and support resources instead.

Where the questions come from

The twelve statements are adapted from the ECR-S: the wording has been rewritten for plain reading outside a research setting, so this is not the validated instrument and published norms do not transfer to it exactly. The two scales, their length and the direction of each item are unchanged.

Source: Wei, M., Russell, D. W., Mallinckrodt, B., & Vogel, D. L. (2007). The Experiences in Close Relationship Scale (ECR)-short form: reliability, validity, and factor structure. Journal of Personality Assessment, 88(2), 187-204.

Questions people ask

5 answers
How accurate is an attachment style quiz

A 12-item quiz gives you a reasonable first read, not a measurement. It reflects how you answered today, about the relationships you had in mind, and both of those move. Treat the result as a description worth checking against your actual history rather than a fixed fact about you.

Why does this quiz give two scores instead of one type

Attachment research measures two separate dimensions, anxiety and avoidance, and the four familiar style names are just the four corners those dimensions produce. Showing both scores tells you how close to a boundary you sit, which a single label hides.

Can your attachment style change

Yes, though slowly. Attachment patterns are learned expectations, and they shift with repeated experience of being met when you reach out. Long relationships, becoming a parent, and therapy are the changes most often associated with movement, and none of them work in weeks.

Do I need to give an email to see my result

No. The full result appears on this page the moment you finish, including both scores and what the combination means. There is no account, no email step, and no share requirement, and your answers never leave your browser.

When is an attachment style the wrong explanation

When the pattern is recent, attached to one specific person, or arrived alongside burnout, grief, or a betrayal. Attachment styles describe something that repeats across relationships and across years. A single difficult relationship explains itself and does not need this frame.