Attachment Style Test
ECR-R scores anxiety and avoidance. We overlay those dimensions on IPIP-50 — the free quiz does not score attachment.
An attachment style is a pattern for how you handle closeness, distance, and threat in relationships. It is not a personality type, and it is not a diagnosis.
The research gold standard for adult attachment is the ECR-R — Experiences in Close Relationships–Revised (Fraley, Waller, and Brennan, 2000; PubMed 10707340). It scores two continuous dimensions:
- Anxiety — worry about abandonment, monitoring, need for reassurance
- Avoidance — discomfort with closeness, pulling away, self-reliance as protection
That is different from a four-style typed quiz that asks you to pick Secure, Anxious, Avoidant, or Fearful-Avoidant. A type quiz draws a border. ECR-R gives you two scores first. The four labels are a map of those scores, not the measurement.
Deep Personality does not administer the 36-item ECR-R. The official items live on Fraley’s ECR-R page. What we run: the IPIP-50 Big Five, then an attachment overlay on that profile — anxiety and avoidance scores, then a style label. If two people finish, you can compare.
The path here is the same as the rest of the product: free quiz first, then the full assessment. The free 10-item quiz does not score attachment. It is a short Big Five first read.
ECR-R vs a four-style typed quiz
| Approach | What you get |
|---|---|
| ECR-R (Fraley, Waller, Brennan 2000) | 36 items; attachment anxiety and avoidance scores |
| Four-style typed quiz | A label without dimensional scores |
| This site | IPIP-50, then attachment anxiety and avoidance as an overlay — not the 36-item ECR-R |
Use Fraley’s page if you want the 36-item instrument. Use this page if you want attachment scored next to Big Five, with an optional partner comparison.
The four styles this test reports
| Style | In one line |
|---|---|
| Secure | Comfortable with closeness and independence |
| Anxious | Wants closeness and fears losing it |
| Avoidant | Prefers independence; closeness can feel like too much |
| Disorganized | Wants closeness and fears it at the same time |
These are patterns, not identities. People move. A style is a starting map, not a life sentence. The label comes from the two dimensional scores, not from picking a type in a list.
How Deep Personality measures attachment
The full assessment overlays two dimensions on the IPIP-50 Big Five:
- Anxiety — worry about abandonment, monitoring, need for reassurance
- Avoidance — discomfort with closeness, pulling away, self-reliance as protection
Those two scores become a style label:
- Low anxiety + low avoidance → Secure
- High anxiety + low avoidance → Anxious-Preoccupied
- Low anxiety + high avoidance → Dismissive-Avoidant
- High anxiety + high avoidance → Fearful-Avoidant
That is the attachment style test on this site. It is not the 36-item ECR-R. It sits in the full assessment, after the IPIP-50.
What the free quiz does — and does not — do
The quiz uses ten IPIP items (two per Big Five trait). It gives you a first personality read.
It does not give you an attachment style. If you came here for attachment, take the quiz anyway — it is the front door — then continue into the full test, where attachment is actually scored.
If you invite someone who also finishes, you can get a comparison: the two Big Five profiles and attachment patterns side by side. That is not a separate attachment quiz.
Attachment is not the whole story
Attachment gets a lot of attention online. It is useful. It is not sufficient.
The same anxious style looks different next to high neuroticism than next to low extraversion. One person protests out loud. Another goes quiet and spirals. Same attachment label. Different week.
That is why this product measures attachment with the Big Five, not instead of it. Read the attachment styles overview if you want the four patterns before you take anything.
This is not a diagnosis
An attachment style is a self-report pattern. It is not trauma treatment, not couples therapy, and not a clinical finding. If relationships feel unsafe in a way that is hard to manage alone, a qualified clinician is the right next step. A test can name a pattern. It cannot do the repair.
Take the test
Start the free quiz. Continue into the full assessment for the IPIP-50 Big Five, an attachment overlay (anxiety and avoidance), and an optional comparison.
Start with the free quiz.
The 10-item quiz is a short Big Five first read and does not score attachment. The full assessment overlays attachment anxiety and avoidance on the IPIP-50, then an optional comparison.
Take the free quizFrequently Asked Questions
An attachment style test estimates how you handle closeness and distance in relationships. The research gold standard for adults is the ECR-R (Fraley, Waller, Brennan 2000), which scores attachment anxiety and avoidance. Deep Personality does not administer the 36-item ECR-R. The full assessment overlays those two dimensions on the IPIP-50, then reports secure, anxious-preoccupied, dismissive-avoidant, or fearful-avoidant. It is not a diagnosis.
The Experiences in Close Relationships–Revised (ECR-R) is a 36-item adult attachment inventory by Fraley, Waller, and Brennan (2000; PubMed 10707340). It scores two continuous dimensions — anxiety and avoidance — rather than assigning a type first. The official instrument is on Fraley’s lab site. We do not administer the 36-item ECR-R.
No. We do not administer the 36-item ECR-R. The full assessment overlays attachment anxiety and avoidance on the IPIP-50 Big Five and then reports a style label. The free 10-item quiz does not score attachment.
No. The free quiz is ten IPIP items for a Big Five first read. It does not score attachment. Attachment style is measured in the full assessment as an overlay on IPIP-50. Start at the quiz — that is the front door — then continue into the full test for attachment and, if you want it, a comparison.
Typed quizzes hand you one of four labels. ECR-R and this product start from two dimensional scores: anxiety and avoidance. The four styles (secure, anxious-preoccupied, dismissive-avoidant, fearful-avoidant) are a map of those scores, not the measurement. We still do not administer the 36-item ECR-R.
Four: secure, anxious-preoccupied, dismissive-avoidant, and fearful-avoidant (also called disorganized). The label comes from the combination of anxiety and avoidance scores, not from picking a type in a list.
The Big Five (IPIP-50) scores five personality traits. Attachment scores how you handle closeness and threat with people you depend on. Deep Personality measures both in the full assessment — IPIP-50, then an attachment overlay — and can compare two people who both finish. The free quiz only covers a short Big Five read and does not score attachment.