Interpersonal manifestations of attachment avoidance: The moderating role of impostorism

Avoidant attachment is associated with numerous negative interpersonal outcomes. The current study tested whether self-perceptions of impostorism intensify negative interpersonal outcomes of attachment-related avoidance. One hundred and twenty-nine male Israeli veterans of the 1973 Yom Kippur War were assessed using self-report measures of attachment orientations (avoidance, anxiety), impostorism, beliefs about others' benevolence, marital quality, and loneliness. As hypothesized, hierarchical regressions revealed significant interactions of impostorism and attachment avoidance after accounting for main effects, showing that impostorism intensified the association between avoidant attachment, on the one hand, and more negative beliefs about others’ benevolence, lower marital quality, and heightened loneliness, on the other hand. The current study is among the first to systematically assess the relational implications of impostorism and suggests that high impostorism is a risk factor for aversive outcomes in the interpersonal realm, especially among highly attachment-avoidant people.