The findings simultaneously highlight the uniqueness of the sibling relationship and contribute important knowledge to the field of attachment, specifically providing some support for the role of
siblings as attachment figures.
When restricting the sample to participants who were involved in dating and marital relationships (n for the subsample is unknown from the literature) they found that twins were less likely to view their romantic partners
as attachment figures compared to NT siblings.
Insofar the assumption seems plausible that such «correcting» experiences will take place by encounters with staff members who
function as attachment figures.
Some theorists have suggested that adult children relinquish their
parents as attachment figures (Weiss 1982), whereas others have amassed secondary evidence that attachments to parents are sustained (Krause and Haverkamp 1996).
Leaders as attachment figures: Leaders» attachment orientations predict leadership - related mental representations and followers» performance and mental health.
With respect to the attachment to the romantic partner, previous studies have shown that twins often give their twin sibling preference to others and are more likely to choose the
twin as an attachment figure compared to other persons such as their mother or romantic partner (Tancredy & Fraley, 2006).
Tancredy and Fraley (2006) compared in a sample of 62 twins (30 MZ and 32 DZ) and 928 NT siblings, whether twins and non-twins differed in their use of non-siblings (e.g., mothers, friends)
as attachment figures.
They found that married participants were less likely to report their sibling
as an attachment figure than single participants, which generally indicates that romantic partners seem to move to the top of the attachment hierarchy.
Basically, Attachment theory states that all human beings seek the safety and security of a significant other, referred to
as an attachment figure.