Beyond secure and insecure, which attachment style is characterized by minimizing closeness?

• A. Anxious-Resistant
• B. Anxious-Avoidant
• C. Disorganized
• D. Secure

Answer: (B)

In attachment patterns, the style that minimizes closeness and keeps partners at a distance is anxious-avoidant. People with this pattern value independence highly and often downplay or suppress their attachment needs. They tend to be uncomfortable with too much intimacy, may appear emotionally detached, and prefer to rely on themselves rather than others. This contrasts with anxious-resistant (anxious-preoccupied), which seeks closeness and fears abandonment, and disorganized, which shows inconsistent or chaotic behavior. Secure attachment, meanwhile, is comfortable with closeness and interdependence. So minimizing closeness points to the anxious-avoidant style.