Partnered individuals typically report greater well-being than singles; however, poor-quality relationships can be more harmful to mental health than singlehood. Relationship satisfaction, therefore, plays a central role in psychological well-being. Attachment insecurity—marked by anxiety and avoidance—has been consistently linked to lower relationship satisfaction, in part due to its influence on adaptive interpersonal behaviours. Mate retention (MR) strategies, aimed at maintaining relationships, may mediate this link. These include benefit-provisioning (BP) strategies (e.g., affection, gift-giving) and cost-inflicting (CI) strategies (e.g., jealousy induction, autonomy restriction). While previous research has largely relied on cross-sectional designs and is limited in cultural scope, our study used a longitudinal, cross-cultural approach to address these gaps.
Participants (N = 351; 53.5% from Brazil), aged 19-84 and in committed relationships, completed measures of attachment insecurity and perceived partner MR strategies at Time 1 (T1). Relationship satisfaction was measured one month later at Time 2 (T2). Controlling for gender, we found that the associations between anxious attachment and relationship satisfaction was mediated by perceived benefit-provisioning (BP) and cost-inflicting (CI) mate-retention strategies, whereas only BP strategies mediated the path from avoidant attachment. Importantly, these mediation paths were moderated by country (Brazil vs. UK). Specifically, the indirect effect of anxious attachment on relationship satisfaction through CI was negative in Brazil, but positive in the UK, whereas the indirect effect through BP was only significant in Brazil. In turn, the indirect effect of avoidant attachment on relationship satisfaction through BP was negative in Brazil but positive in the UK.
These findings underscore cultural differences in how attachment and MR strategies influence relationship outcomes over time. They highlight the need for culturally informed, attachment-based interventions in applied psychology to improve relationship satisfaction and, by extension, mental health.