Relationship Management Profiles in Romantic Relationships: Integrating Attachment Orientations and Conflict Management Tendencies

Attachment orientations and conflict-management tendencies shape romantic relationship functioning, but individuals may combine these characteristics in ways obscured by variable-centered analyses. The present study used a person-centered approach to identify relationship-management profiles based on attachment and conflict-management patterns and examine their associations with relationship outcomes and demographic characteristics. Participants were 978 adults currently involved in a romantic relationship, assessed via self-report measures of attachment, conflict resolution, relationship functioning, jealousy, and sexual satisfaction. Latent profile analysis identified five profiles: Secure–Harmonious (50.2%), Fearful–Avoidant (Reactively Destructive; 20.0%), Secure–Dominant (18.0%), Anxious–Volatile (7.5%), and Dismissing–Avoidant (4.3%). BCH analyses revealed significant differences across profiles in relationship satisfaction, quality of alternatives, investment, commitment, trust, multidimensional jealousy, and sexual satisfaction. Secure profiles demonstrated the most adaptive functioning, whereas Dismissing–Avoidant individuals reported the lowest investment, commitment, trust, emotional jealousy, and sexual satisfaction. The Anxious–Volatile profile was distinguished by elevated behavioral and cognitive jealousy alongside relatively high investment. R3STEP analyses indicated that gender was selectively associated with profile membership, whereas relationship duration showed only limited associations. These findings underscore meaningful heterogeneity in romantic relationship functioning and the value of integrating attachment and conflict-management processes within a person-centered framework.