Capstone: The Influence of Attachment Styles on Romantic Couples' Negotiation Process and Negotiation Outcomes

Research investigating career-related decision-making has predominantly focused on individual-level characteristics (e.g., abilities, goals, values) as explanations for decision-making and choice behaviour. Increasingly however, the field has come to acknowledge that parents, peers, and partners may also influence the target individual’s choices. In this study, we examined the effect of attachment styles – characteristic ways that an individual experiences and interprets interpersonal situations – on couple’s negotiation process and negotiation outcomes. Although we found that attachment styles predicted trust, cooperation, and satisfaction with the negotiation process, we did not find the expected effects on negotiation outcomes. Limitations and future research directions will be discussed.