Anxious aspirations: Attachment anxiety fuels status strivings through intrasexual competition.

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cris.lastimport.scopus2026-02-01T04:14:48Z
dc.abstract.enStriving for social status is a fundamental human motive, yet individuals vary considerably in their status-seeking tendencies. Drawing on attachment literature and life history theory, we propose that attachment anxiety drives status pursuit through heightened intrasexual competition. Across six preregistered studies (N = 4,456) spanning five countries, we find that attachment anxiety, rather than attachment avoidance, predicts status strivings. This relationship is mediated by intrasexual competition—competing with same-sex rivals—rather than, as previously documented, by materialism or general competitiveness. Experimental evidence confirms causality: Inducing attachment anxiety increases the desire for high-status cars and houses through heightened intrasexual competition. A moderation-of-process design demonstrates that experimentally manipulating intrasexual competition correspondingly enhances or reduces the effect of attachment anxiety on status strivings but only for high-status possessions. These effects hold for both men and women. Our findings show that anxiously attached individuals pursue status to compensate for relational insecurities, and they do so by competing with same-sex rivals. This research extends attachment theory to status pursuit and clarifies whether, when, and why individual differences in attachment patterns predict people’s status strivings.
dc.affiliationInstitute of Psychology
dc.affiliationInstytut Psychologii
dc.affiliationWydział Psychologii we Wrocławiu
dc.contributor.authorGąsiorowska, Agata
dc.contributor.authorFolwarczny, Michał
dc.contributor.authorOtterbring, Tobias
dc.date.access2026-01-30
dc.date.accessioned2026-01-30T07:28:12Z
dc.date.available2026-01-30T07:28:12Z
dc.date.created2025-11-24
dc.date.issued2026
dc.description.accesstimebefore_publication
dc.description.grantnumber2021/43/O/HS6/00778
dc.description.grantnumber8/2022/FRBN/G
dc.description.granttitleNastawienie rynkowe jako skutek pozabezpiecznego przywiązania. Eksploracja relacji i jej psychologicznych mechanizmów.
dc.description.physical1-24
dc.description.sdgGoodHealthAndWellBeing
dc.description.sdgResponsibleConsumptionAndProduction
dc.description.versionfinal_author
dc.identifier.doi10.1037/pspi0000512
dc.identifier.doihttps://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2027-20783-001.html
dc.identifier.issn1939-1315
dc.identifier.issn0022-3514
dc.identifier.urihttps://share.swps.edu.pl/handle/swps/2162
dc.languageen
dc.pbn.affiliationpsychologia
dc.rightsCC-BY
dc.rights.questionYes_rights
dc.share.articleOTHER
dc.subject.enattachment anxiety
dc.subject.enstatus strivings
dc.subject.enstatus pursuit
dc.subject.enintrasexual competition
dc.subject.enlife history theory
dc.swps.sciencecloudnosend
dc.titleAnxious aspirations: Attachment anxiety fuels status strivings through intrasexual competition.
dc.title.journalJournal of Personality and Social Psychology
dc.typeJournalArticle
dspace.entity.typeArticle