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A recent set of studies demonstrated that people evaluate their own and their partner's social skills differently as a function of attachment style. The present study extends this work by examining attachment-stile differences in four conversational skills--expressiveness, composure, other-orientation, and interaction management--as rated by observers. To test for attachment-style differences, romantic couples were videotaped as they discussed relational problems or conflict issues. Based on a pretest, one of the romantic partners was targeted as representative of the secure, dismissive, fearful avoidant, or preoccupied attachment style. Two dimensions related to attachment--anxiety and avoidance--were also investigated in regard to their relations with conversational skills. Results suggest that the behavioral profiles largely reflect attachment theoretical assumptions for secures, dismissives, and fearful avoidants, and to a lesser extent, preoccupieds. Keywords: Conversational Skill; Attachment; Communication Competence

Two studies focused on attachment-style differences in people's social skills. Study 1 had a sample of 237 students who completed questionnaires assessing their own attachment styles and social skills (based on Riggio's six dimensions of social skill). Study 2, which focused on partner-reports, used data from 258 couples to determine whether people's perceptions of a partner's social skill would vary based on the partner's self-reported attachment style. The results revealed attachment-style differences in various social skills across self-and partner-reports; however, these differences were generally less robust for partner-reports. Differences in self-reported social skill were consistent with Bartholomew's two-factor conceptualization of attachment. Dismissive and fearful individuals rated themselves as relatively antisocial and unexpressive, in line with their negative models of others; preoccupied and fearful individuals rated themselves as overly sensitive, in line with their negative models of self. Preoccupied individuals were also perceived as the most socially sensitive by their partners, and across all the analyses, secures were ostensibly the most socially skilled. KEY CONCEPTS attachment, social skills, communication, emotion, expressiveness, sensitivity

This study examines the extent to which members of same- and cross-sex friendships avoid topics related to relationship issues, negative life experiences, dating experiences, sexual experiences, and outside friendships. Four reasons for topic avoidance are also explored: self-protection, relationship protection, partner unresponsiveness, and social appropriateness. Results from 177 undergraduate students, who referenced a friend of the same sex and a friend of the opposite sex, showed that individuals avoided discussing negative life experiences and relationship issues with males more than females and, when with opposite-sex friends, avoided disclosures related to dating and sexual experiences more than when with same-sex friends. Additionally, individuals avoided disclosure for a variety of reasons, but seem primarily motivated to avoid topics due to concerns for self-protection. Results of this investigation shed light on the communicative implications underlying differences between same- and cross-sex friendships.