Avoidant attachment arises from consistent coldness and unavailability from the parent. Avoidant children spurn their parents. Phil Shaver and Cindy Hazan showed that behavior patterns in adult relationships could be broken down into the same categories. Secure adults find it relatively easy to find intimacy with others and depend on them for support. Anxious-ambivalent adults often desire a more intensely close relationship than their partner is willing to have.
Avoidant individuals have a hard time forming intimate relationships with anyone.