Love Addiction, Emotional Dysregulation and Attachment Bonds: A Quantitative Study of 344 Females

"Love Addiction" is a condition that several authors have suggested to consider as a behavioral addiction toward an object of romantic love. Although in the literature it is often suggested that attachment issues and emotional dysregulation are at the root of this condition, no empirical research seems to have been conducted to confirm it. We aim to close this gap, through a study examining the relationship between love addiction, adult and childhood attachment and emotional dysregulation. The research involved a clinical group of 155 women and a 189-women control group. The clinical group reported significantly higher levels of emotional dysregulation and alexithymia, parental control, and preoccupied attachment, and lower levels of parental care. Many different patterns of correlation, as well as eight causal models, among the several measures were observed in the two groups. The results seem to suggest that the development of love addiction is conditioned by negative experiences of childhood and adult attachment, as well as by the mediating role of emotional dysregulation and alexithymia.