There are at least two strategies for dealing with this attachment insecurity: (a) become preoccupied with relational partners
by being overly sensitive to partner's emotional moves and developing a sustained expectation that partner's will eventually betray or abandon them (i.e., attachment anxiety), and / or (b)
avoid developing relationships of any significant emotional depth to
avoid getting hurt in the first place, which often leads insecurely attached individuals to become emotionally aloof, overly fixated with self - reliance, and emotionally unavailable to others in times of need (i.e., attachment avoidance).
The ASQ includes five scales: (1) ASQ - F1, «Confidence in relationships»; higher scores in this subscale indicate a secure attachment (e.g., «I find it relatively easy to
get close to other people»); (2) ASQ - F2, «Need for approval» denotes both worried and fearful aspects of attachment, characterized
by an individual's need for others» approval and acceptance (e.g., «It's important for me to
avoid doing things that others won't like»); (3) ASQ - F3: the subjects» anxious behavior in searching for others, motivated
by the necessity to fulfill dependency needs, is depicted
by the subscale «Preoccupation with relationships»; it represents a central topic in the conceptualization of anxious / ambivalent attachment (e.g., «It's very important for me to have a close relationship»); (4) ASQ - F4, «Discomfort with closeness» reflects an avoidant attachment (e.g., «I prefer to keep to myself»), and (5) ASQ - F5 «Relationships as secondary» is typical of a dismissive style, in which subjects tend to emphasize achievements and independence, in order to protect themselves against
hurt and vulnerability (e.g., «To ask for help is to admit that you're a failure»).