Attachment style ranking
Which attachment style results come up most among people who chose to join from their result page.
Find my typeRanking by type
Attachment style shares in published studies
The ranking above counts mind.io participants; below are sourced studies. In the US nationally representative sample, secure was the most common style, at 59%, while in a study of Korean university students dismissing (34.7%) came out slightly ahead of secure (32.8%).
Swipe the table sideways to see all four styles.
| Study · sample | Secure | Anxious / preoccupied | Avoidant / dismissing | Fearful |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hazan & Shaver (1987) · 620 newspaper readers | 56% | 19% | 25% | not counted separately |
| Mickelson et al. (1997) · US representative sample | 59% | 11% | 25% | not counted separately |
| Bakermans-Kranenburg & van IJzendoorn (2009) · Adult Attachment Interviews, North American non-clinical mothers | 58% | 19% | 23% | not counted separately |
| Jeong & Lee (2005) · 265 Korean university students | 32.8% | 17.2% | 34.7% | 6.8% |
Studies that did not count a fearful style separately show –. The Adult Attachment Interview classifies the state of mind with which people talk about their childhood, not a romantic style, so a shared column does not mean the same thing was measured. Its “unresolved” code (18%) is given on top of the three classes, so it is left out. Where a row does not add up to 100%, the study did not report the rest under these styles. Use the table for the broad pattern rather than a strict comparison.
These studies differ from one another, and from mind.io, in sample and measure: mind.io splits styles at the middle of its scales (50) and counts only people who chose to join, so the ranking above and the shares below cannot be compared directly. The guide explains each study and how to read the numbers.
Attachment style percentages: how common secure, anxious, avoidant and fearful styles are →This shows people who chose to join from their result page. It is not the share of each type in the population, and the numbers count entries, not people. Entries are anonymous and unverified, so automated ones may be mixed in. A test’s ranking appears only after at least 30 entries. The ranking updates every few minutes.
To join, tap “Add my type anonymously” on a test’s result page. Nothing is sent unless you tap it.
What the ranking uses, in detail →