disorganized attachment vs. fA vs. anxious-avoidant

According to Wikipedia, disorganized is a term for infants and fearful avoidant the rough equivalent for adults, whereas anxious-avoidant is the infant rough equivalent of dismissive avoidant. Personally I have seen people use anxious-avoidant in place of fearful avoidant sometimes, but maybe that is just a mistake since it sounds intuitively like the same thing. The whole thing is a bit confusing but I think it's because different researchers invented different names for things and because infant/child attachment is different from attachment in adults.


Wikipedia says:

"Four different attachment classifications have been identified in children:

Secure attachment is when children feel they can rely on their caregivers to attend to their needs of proximity, emotional support and protection. It is considered to be the best attachment style.

Anxious-ambivalent attachment is when the infant feels separation anxiety when separated from the caregiver and does not feel reassured when the caregiver returns to the infant.

Anxious-avoidant attachment is when the infant avoids their parents.

Disorganized attachment is when there is a lack of attachment behavior.

Four styles of attachment have been identified in adults: secure, anxious-preoccupied, dismissive-avoidant and fearful-avoidant. These roughly correspond to infant classifications: secure, insecure-ambivalent, insecure-avoidant and disorganized/disoriented.

Securely attached adults tend to have positive views of themselves, their partners and their relationships. They feel comfortable with intimacy and independence, balancing the two.

Anxious-preoccupied adults seek high levels of intimacy, approval and responsiveness from partners, becoming overly dependent. They tend to be less trusting, have less positive views about themselves and their partners, and may exhibit high levels of emotional expressiveness, worry and impulsiveness in their relationships.

Dismissive-avoidant adults desire a high level of independence, often appearing to avoid attachment altogether. They view themselves as self-sufficient, invulnerable to attachment feelings and not needing close relationships. They tend to suppress their feelings, dealing with conflict by distancing themselves from partners of whom they often have a poor opinion.

Fearful-avoidant adults have mixed feelings about close relationships, both desiring and feeling uncomfortable with emotional closeness. They tend to mistrust their partners and view themselves as unworthy. Like dismissive-avoidant adults, fearful-avoidant adults tend to seek less intimacy, suppressing their feelings."