Attachment Style Self-Assessment (Printable)

This is the paper version: twenty-four statements, a scoring grid you fill in with a pen, and no screen involved. It exists because a result that appears instantly on a phone is very easy to accept without thinking, and because practitioners kept looking for something they could hand across a desk.

It is a self-reflection tool, not a clinical instrument, and that distinction is not a disclaimer — it changes how you should read the result. The validated research measures are the Experiences in Close Relationships scales and the Adult Attachment Interview; the first is a long questionnaire scored on two continuous dimensions, the second is a coded interview that takes hours. Neither produces a four-word label. Everything below is an approximation designed to start a conversation.

Who this worksheet is for

You want to work this out on paper rather than on a screen, or you are a practitioner who wants something printable to go through with a client.

Download the free PDF ↓

Free, printable, no email required. Prints on A4 or Letter.

How to score it honestly

Answer for how you have actually been across your last two or three significant relationships — not for how you are right now with one particular person, and not for how you would like to be. The most common distortion is answering as your best self in your calmest relationship, which returns secure for almost everybody.

Score each statement 0 to 4, where 0 is never true of me and 4 is almost always true. Add the six statements in each block. The blocks are anxiety, avoidance, disorganisation and security, and the highest total is the pattern that fits you most closely today.

Two totals within three points of each other is a genuine result, not a failure of the instrument. Attachment is dimensional, and mixed profiles are the norm rather than the exception. If anxiety and avoidance are both high, read the fearful-avoidant material.

Your result can change with the relationship you are in, and that is not a flaw in the questions. Attachment behaviour is relational: the same person can look anxious with an inconsistent partner and close to secure with a steady one. Re-score in six months and the movement will be informative.

The four blocks

Six statements per block, scored 0–4. The PDF has the full statement list, the scoring grid, and the interpretation page.

Block A: Anxiety

How much of your attention the relationship takes when nothing is wrong.

These six ask about vigilance rather than about love. The construct is not how much you care — it is how much monitoring the caring requires: re-reading messages for tone, tracking response times, needing reassurance repeated because the last one has stopped working. A high score here is compatible with a very good relationship; what it measures is the cost of holding it, not its quality.

Prompts

  • I re-read messages from a partner looking for changes in tone. (0–4)
  • When a reply is slower than usual, I struggle to concentrate on anything else. (0–4)
  • I need reassurance more often than I am comfortable admitting. (0–4)
  • Block A total (six statements on the PDF), out of 24:

Block B: Avoidance

What happens as closeness increases.

The key word in every statement here is "as". Avoidance is not a dislike of relationships — it is a response that scales with proximity, which is why it so often appears three months in rather than at the start. These items ask about the direction of travel: whether interest reduces as access increases, whether you find reasons at the point things get settled, whether relief is a common feeling when plans fall through.

Prompts

  • I feel relief, not disappointment, when plans with a partner get cancelled. (0–4)
  • I start noticing faults in a partner as we get closer. (0–4)
  • I would rather handle something difficult alone than be helped with it. (0–4)
  • Block B total, out of 24:

Block C: Disorganisation

Whether the two above take turns.

This block is not a third flavour of insecurity; it asks specifically about oscillation and about the conflict between the two systems. The distinguishing experience is wanting closeness intensely and finding it unbearable once you have it. The distinguishing behaviour is reversal — sending something and immediately wishing it unsent, ending something and immediately wanting it back. If Block C is high, read it alongside A and B rather than instead of them.

Prompts

  • I want closeness badly and then feel trapped once I have it. (0–4)
  • I have ended, or nearly ended, relationships I did not want to end. (0–4)
  • My feelings about the same person can reverse within a day. (0–4)
  • Block C total, out of 24:

Block D: Security

Scored separately, because it is not simply low insecurity.

Security is its own set of behaviours rather than the absence of the other three, which is why it gets its own block. The items are about what happens under stress: whether you can say what you need without building a case first, whether conflict ends in repair rather than in a winner, whether an ordinary answer is enough to settle you. Someone can score moderately on A or B and still score high here — that combination is roughly what earned security looks like from the inside.

Prompts

  • I can say what I need directly, without building a case first. (0–4)
  • After an argument we repair, rather than one of us conceding. (0–4)
  • An ordinary reassurance is usually enough to settle me. (0–4)
  • Block D total, out of 24:

Reading your result

What the number is, and is not, evidence of.

The highest block is the pattern that currently fits you best. It is not a diagnosis — attachment style does not appear in the DSM-5 or ICD-11, and no label from a printed sheet should be treated as a finding about your character. Two things make the score more useful: writing down one specific incident that made you answer 4 on your highest-scoring item, and re-scoring in six months. An unexplained label predicts nothing; a label plus a dated incident is something you can work on.

Prompts

  • Highest block and score:
  • Second highest, and the gap between them:
  • One dated incident behind my highest single item:
  • Date I will score this again:

For practitioners

This is free to print and use with clients, and it is deliberately not a validated instrument — where a measure is needed, the ECR-R or the AAI are the appropriate tools and this substitutes for neither. Its usefulness is as a conversation opener: the scoring is transparent enough that a client can see exactly which answers produced the result, which tends to move the discussion onto incidents rather than onto the label.

The scoring grid is on the last page and is designed to be photocopied on its own, so you can re-administer it later without reprinting the statements.

Prefer to do it on screen?

The online version asks different questions, scores them for you, and takes about five minutes.

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Attachment Style Self-Assessment Worksheet: FAQ

Is this attachment style assessment accurate?
It is a self-reflection tool, not a validated clinical measure. It will usually point you at the right material, and it cannot tell you anything authoritative about who you are. The research instruments are the Experiences in Close Relationships scales and the Adult Attachment Interview, and neither produces a single four-word label.
Can therapists use this with clients?
Yes, freely and at no cost, with the caveat that it is psychoeducational rather than diagnostic. The scoring is deliberately transparent so a client can see which answers drove the result, which usually moves the conversation onto specific incidents.
What if two scores come out the same?
That is a real result and a common one. Attachment is dimensional, so mixed profiles are the norm. High anxiety and high avoidance together points at the fearful-avoidant material; a high security score alongside moderate anxiety is closer to earned security.
Why is no email required?
Because a quiz that withholds your own result until you hand over an address is a lead-capture form wearing a quiz costume. The PDF downloads directly and the scoring key is inside it.

Worksheets for the other styles

  • Anxious Attachment worksheet You re-read messages looking for tone changes, feel panic when replies slow down, or find yourself doing things to get reassurance that you later wish you had not done.
  • Avoidant Attachment worksheet You need space when things get close, go quiet under conflict, find faults in partners as intimacy grows, or feel relief when plans get cancelled.
  • Fearful-Avoidant Attachment worksheet You crave closeness then feel trapped by it, end relationships you wanted, or feel like two different people depending on the week.
  • Secure Attachment worksheet You came out secure and want to know what to keep doing, or you are building earned security and want the target described in behaviour rather than adjectives.

Worksheets by situation

Or go back to all free attachment worksheets, including the one-page cheat sheet covering all four styles.

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