Attachment Style Quiz
Answer honestly based on how you typically feel in romantic relationships
Question 1 of 12
I often worry that my partner doesn't really love me.
What the attachment style quiz tells you
Your attachment style is the pattern you fall into when you get close to someone — how you handle needing them, and how you handle distance. There are four: secure, anxious, avoidant and fearful-avoidant. The quiz above places you by measuring two separate things — how much you fear abandonment, and how much closeness makes you want space. It takes about two minutes, it is free, and you do not need to give an email address to see your result.
The four attachment styles
Secure attachment
You can be close to someone without losing yourself, and apart from them without assuming the worst. Conflict is uncomfortable but not catastrophic — you raise the problem, and you expect it to get resolved.
The tell: You can say "that hurt me" without rehearsing it for three days first.
Anxious attachment
You want closeness and you monitor for signs it is slipping. A delayed reply, a flat tone, a cancelled plan — your system reads each as evidence, and the relief only comes from reassurance.
The tell: You draft and redraft the message, then check whether they are online.
Avoidant attachment
Independence feels safe and closeness feels like pressure. When someone moves toward you emotionally, your instinct is to create room — by going quiet, getting busy, or finding fault.
The tell: You notice their flaws most clearly right after a good weekend together.
Fearful-avoidant (disorganised) attachment
You want closeness and fear it at the same time, so you move toward people and then away from them. The push-pull is exhausting from the inside and confusing from the outside.
The tell: You pull away when things are going well, then panic when they let you.
What this quiz actually measures
Attachment is not four boxes. It is two sliders, and the four styles are just the corners they produce. The quiz follows the structure of the Experiences in Close Relationships framework, the self-report approach used in most adult attachment research, and scores you on both:
- Attachment anxiety — how strongly you fear being abandoned, and how much you need reassurance to feel settled.
- Attachment avoidance — how uncomfortable closeness and dependence feel, and how strongly you move to protect your independence.
You answer 12 statements on a five-point scale. Six load onto anxiety and six onto avoidance, and two are reverse-scored so that agreeing with everything cannot produce a clean result. Each dimension is averaged, and a score above the midpoint counts as high. Low on both is secure; high anxiety with low avoidance is anxious; low anxiety with high avoidance is avoidant; high on both is fearful-avoidant.
That is also why two people can both be told "anxious" and recognise themselves to very different degrees. A score just over the line is not the same as a score at the top of the range, and the styles shade into each other rather than switching over cleanly.
What people who take this quiz actually score
In Hazan and Shaver's original 1987 surveys, about 56% of adults described themselves as secure. That is not what we see, and the gap is the interesting part. Of the 121 completed quizzes we have been able to record a style for between 26 August 2026 and 20 September 2026:
| Result | Share | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Anxious | 49.6% | 60 |
| Secure | 21.5% | 26 |
| Fearful-avoidant | 20.7% | 25 |
| Avoidant | 8.3% | 10 |
This is not a population sample and should not be read as one. It is a sample of people who went looking for an attachment quiz — and people go looking when something hurts. Anxious attachment is more than twice as common here as the research base would predict, and avoidant attachment is far rarer, which is what you would expect when the defining feature of avoidance is not wanting to examine the relationship. N is small (121) and we will update this as it grows.
How accurate is it?
It is a screening tool, not a diagnosis. Self-report questionnaires like this one are the standard instrument in adult attachment research, and they are good at showing you the pattern you are in — but they measure how you see yourself today, in the relationships you are thinking of while you answer.
Two things move the result. The first is which relationship you have in mind: answering about a relationship that is currently painful will pull your anxiety score up. The second is timing — take it in the middle of a fight and you will get a different answer than you would a fortnight later. If the result surprises you, retake it when things are calm and see whether it holds.
Attachment style also is not fixed. Roughly a quarter to a third of people shift over a four-year period, most often toward security. If you want the route rather than the label, start with earned secure attachment.
What to do with your result
A label on its own changes nothing. The useful next step depends on what you came here to work out:
- You want to understand yourself better — read the full guide for your style: anxious, avoidant, fearful-avoidant or secure.
- You are trying to work out a partner or an ex — the partner attachment style quiz asks about their behaviour rather than yours.
- You want to know how your styles interact — the compatibility guide covers each pairing, including the anxious–avoidant trap.
- You want something to actually do — the free printable worksheets are exercises for each style, and the healing guides set out the longer route to earned security.
Frequently asked questions
What are the 4 attachment styles?
The four attachment styles are: Secure (comfortable with intimacy and independence), Anxious (craves closeness but fears abandonment), Avoidant (values independence, uncomfortable with closeness), and Fearful-Avoidant or Disorganised (simultaneously wants love but fears it). These styles develop in childhood based on caregiver interactions and affect how we relate in adult relationships.
How do I know my attachment style?
You can discover your attachment style by taking a quiz based on the ECR-R (Experiences in Close Relationships - Revised) framework. The quiz measures two dimensions — attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance — to determine your style. It takes about 2 minutes and gives you an instant result with personalised guidance.
Can you change your attachment style?
Yes. In a four-year study, about 70-75% of adults chose the same attachment description at the end as at the start (Kirkpatrick & Hazan, 1994), which means roughly a quarter changed. Change toward security is possible, especially through therapy, self-awareness and supportive relationships; researchers call it 'earned security.'
What is the most common attachment style?
Secure attachment is the most common. In Hazan and Shaver’s original 1987 surveys, about 56% of adults described themselves as secure, about 24% as avoidant and about 20% as anxious. Fearful-avoidant (disorganised) was added as a fourth category later, and estimates for it vary widely with the measure used.
How accurate is an online attachment style quiz?
Online attachment style quizzes based on established psychological frameworks like the ECR-R can give you a reliable indication of your attachment patterns. However, they are screening tools, not clinical diagnoses. For a comprehensive assessment, consider working with a therapist trained in attachment theory.
Is attachment theory scientifically supported?
Yes, attachment theory is one of the most extensively researched frameworks in psychology. Originally developed by John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth in the 1960s-70s, it has been supported by decades of research across developmental psychology, neuroscience, and relationship science, including brain imaging studies showing how attachment patterns affect neural processing.