From avoidance to approach: The effects of mortality salience and attachment on the motivation to repair troubled relationships

•Tested the effects of mortality salience and attachment on troubled relationships.•Fearful-avoidants showed increased relational strivings toward family members.•Mortality salience reduced relational strivings in troubled romantic relationships.

Previous research has shown that mortality salience (MS) increases relational strivings and that attachment style moderates these effects. The present study investigated the effects of MS and attachment on relational strivings toward troubled close relationship partners (family members, friends, and romantic partners). MS increased participants’ expectations for improvement in their troubled family relationships. In particular, MS increased fearful-avoidant individuals’ relational strivings toward troubled family members. The same pattern emerged for friendships, controlling for relationship importance. However, MS decreased individuals’ expectations for improvement in their troubled romantic relationships. The present research extends both the terror management and attachment literature, suggesting that MS can motivate fearful-avoidant individuals to overcome their avoidant tendency and repair their troubled relationships.